WEBVTT - Reflecting on Jimmy Carter's Passing, plus Washington Post Absurdly Tries to Re-Write History to Defend Biden 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.279 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.520 with you and Senator this is the last podcast we 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:10.680 are going to do in twenty twenty four. It has 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.080 been a year that has been filled with in insane stories, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.720 an unbelievable election, and also today we found out about 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.119 the passing of a former president of the United States 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:22.239 of America, Jimmy Carter. 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.040 Well, that's right, and so we're going to reflect today 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.440 on the passing of Jimmy Carter. We're also going to 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.960 talk about at just an extraordinary article in the Washington 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:34.960 Post that was an attempt to whitewash all four years 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.560 of Joe Biden's presidency. It may be the single most 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:42.600 dishonest journalistic piece I've seen, and also the most screamingly 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:47.640 funny pretense at journalism I've seen in years. We're gonna 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.920 talk about that in depth. All that coming up. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.280 Yeah, it truly is amazing to see what the media 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.920 will cover now that there's no consequences to doing the 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.560 stories on Joe Biden the way they should have long 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.640 before now. But let's move back to what we mentioned 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:06.480 a moment ago, and that is the life and legacy 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.360 of Jimmy Carter. He was a thirty ninth president of 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.560 the United States of America. He made it to the 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.039 incredible age of one hundred. That is how old he 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:20.080 is the day he passed. And I tell you, Jimmy Carter, 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.840 it's an interesting legacy because he was one of the 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.720 most unpopular presidents when he left office and certainly in 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.959 modern political history. But his legacy that he left behind 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:36.280 is actually incredible. It's extraordinary what he did after leaving 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:37.080 the White House. 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:38.000 Well. 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.760 James Earl Carter Junior was born on October first, nineteen 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.800 twenty four. He was born in Plains, Georgia, and he 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.240 lived one hundred years. He died on December twenty ninth, 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.200 twenty twenty four. He was age one hundred. He was 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.440 the oldest former president to have ever lived. No president 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:58.160 lived to one hundred other than him. And he also 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:03.360 has an interesting statistic and Rosalind Carter where the president 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.680 and first lady who were married the longest. They got 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.120 married in the year nineteen forty six and she died 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.400 in twenty twenty three. She died last year, so they 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.480 were married seventy seven years. That's the longest any president, 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.240 first lady, I've ever been married. And you know, I 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:23.880 got to say, in talking about Jimmy Carter, there's a 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.280 lot that I certainly want to honor. I want to 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:30.200 honor his military service. He is a graduate of the 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.640 United States Naval Academy. He was in the Navy. He 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.840 was active duty from nineteen forty six to nineteen fifty three. 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.200 He was in the reserves from nineteen fifty three to 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.880 nineteen sixty one. He was a sub mariner. He was 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.040 one of the very first sub mariners, and he had 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:50.440 honorable service. And then he returned to Georgia and became 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:54.600 a peanut farmer, joined the family's family farm, and ended 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.440 up going into politics and running for state Senate, running 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:02.720 for governor, and then running a a scrappy grassroots campaign 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:06.240 and really shocking the world as an unknown Southern governor, 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:11.240 getting the Democrat nomination for president in nineteen seventy six 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:16.280 and being elected president. And you know, I will say, 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:18.600 look at it, it is no secret that I have 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:23.640 strong disagreements with Jimmy Carter's policy decisions and so but 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.400 and I've detailed those at length before. I'm not going 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.079 to choose the moment of his passing to go into that, 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.160 I'm simply going to honor his life. He had honorable 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:40.320 service defending our nation. He had honorable service in public office. 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.560 And you know, I will say, look, I never met 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.080 Jimmy Carter. I did not know him personally, but he 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:52.120 always struck me as an honest, honorable man. Was he 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:55.160 was very open about his faith. He was a Southern Baptist. 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:59.080 He in nineteen seventy six. It was a bit of 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:02.080 a shocking thing nationally that he described himself as a 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.320 born again Christian, and that was a a a new 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:06.520 thing in politics. 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:08.640 And and he was. 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:11.240 He taught Sunday school right up almost to the moment 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:13.400 of his death, until his health finally prevented him from 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:18.760 doing so. You're right that that that his legacy after 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.400 the White House was remarkable, and he did a lot 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.400 of things, I think most notably with Habitat for Humanity. 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.680 He put enormous for decades. He was very focused on 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:30.520 building homes for those in need. 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:31.320 Uh. 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.920 And I will say he also did not as a 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:36.599 former president. He didn't go out and and and seek 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:41.359 the limelight excessively. He wasn't a vocal critic of his 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:45.720 successors and and I think all of that, all of 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.560 that is is to be commended, even if even if 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:52.040 the policy decisions he made are different than than than 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.320 those you and I might have chosen to make. I'll 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:59.000 tell you two interesting things. Number One, do you know 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.880 who else was worn on the very same day Jimmy 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:06.120 Carter was born on October first, nineteen twenty four. 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:08.160 Who I have no idea? 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:10.839 Well, we've talked about this before. I you know, I 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.080 give friends grief. Sometimes I'm like, don't you bother to 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:14.880 listen to the podcast? And I'm gonna ask you, ben, 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:16.960 don't you bother to listen or to our podcast? 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:17.960 And we've talked about that. 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.880 On the set up And this is the moment if 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:25.360 anyone's listening right now, if you want to know what 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.720 is set up from Center Cruz sounds like I get 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.839 the experiences more than almost anyone else in the world. 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.840 This is a setup and this is how it always 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.719 plays out. So you've all been warned. This is that moment. 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:41.000 If you're a dinner with him, you know it's coming, 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.320 So go ahead. I cannot wait to hear this answer. 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.680 So Jimmy Carter was born on the very same day 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.520 that William Hubbs Renquist, the sixteenth Chief Justice of the 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:54.840 United States, was born. And as you know, Chief Justice 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.280 Renquist was was my former boss, and I knew him well. 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.160 And he passed a long time ago, so I mean, 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:02.960 he did not live to a hundred And I wrote 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:06.400 a couple of different obituaries for Chief Justice Renquist when 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.400 he passed, and noted in one of the obituaries that 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.800 I wrote that he and Jimmy Carter were born on 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.480 the exact same day. And so that gives a sense 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:19.840 of the length of time and service that Jimmy Carter served. 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:25.400 But I'll tell you secondly, so Jimmy Carter, interestingly is 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:29.679 intimately connected to my very first political memory in life. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:36.120 Really how so, so my first political memory, and in 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:40.200 nineteen seventy six is my mother voted for Jimmy Carter. 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:45.120 And my mother was a Republican, but she just thought 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.919 Gerald Ford was an idiot. She did not like Ford. 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.120 She just thought he was not all that bright, and 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:53.200 she thought Carter seemed like a very nice man, and 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.760 so she voted for Carter. And what I remember, so 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:59.159 at the time, my dad, who you know, as you know, 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:01.479 is from Cuba. He was a Canadian citizen at the time. 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.440 They'd moved to Canada and started a business in Canada, 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.280 and so he was not a US citizen at the time. 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:09.920 And I remember my dad and my mom having an 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:14.080 argument in the living room because my father was horrified 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.120 that she had voted for Jimmy Carter, and and because 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:20.160 she was an American citizen and he was not at 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.880 the time. He is now, but he wasn't then. He 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.440 felt like she had the family vote, and so he 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:28.680 was really I just remember them fighting back and forth. 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.320 My mother came to regret that particular vote, But my 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:37.280 first awareness that politics existed was wondering why my father 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:39.960 was so upset that that that my mother had voted 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:40.600 for Jimmy Carter. 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.480 That's really interesting. My first interaction with Jimmy Jimmy Carter 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.440 was actually, of all things, you laugh because if you 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:51.200 if you've ever met my sister, she's not exactly the 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.960 most political person. She's interested the school teacher, and she 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:58.200 kind of laughs at how different our lives are. But 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.000 she met a president of the units It's America before 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.600 I ever did, and it was Jimmy Carter at the 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.120 Memphis College of Art, where I think one of his 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.520 children or grandchildren, was at school. He had come down 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:13.520 for an event. She happened to be there and got 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.520 his autograph when she was like, I think seven or 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:17.000 eight years old. And so. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:19.280 He was a nice man. 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.000 Oh set, he was so nice. He talked to her 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:25.640 for a minute and chatted and they talked about Memphis 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.760 and asked what she was studying and was she doing art, 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.880 And so to this day she's always like, you know, 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:33.680 you may have met a lot of political people, but 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.160 I just went to remind you I met a president 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.040 long before you ever did, which is true because I 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.600 didn't meet a president for another I don't know, fifteen years. 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.040 Well, and look that that's consistent with it with everything 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.439 I've ever heard, I've never heard of him being unpleasant 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:48.080 to anyone. 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:48.640 You know. 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:50.960 One of the things I saw on Twitter today was 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.599 videos of him coming on to a commercial flight on 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.280 Delta and just stopping and shaking hands with everyone in 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:03.600 the seats going through, which seems very consistent with everything 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.240 about his character that I knew about. You know, Donald 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:12.839 Trump sent out a tweet that I thought was was 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.960 very well done. Here's what Trump wrote, quote, I just 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.560 heard of the news about the passing of President Jimmy Carter. 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:21.280 Those of us who have been fortunate to have served 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.079 as president understand that this is a very exclusive club, 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.720 and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:31.559 leading the greatest nation in history. The challenges Jimmy faced 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:35.040 as president came at a pivotal time for our country, 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:37.520 and he did everything in his power to improve the 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.160 lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:44.280 a debt of gratitude. Milanie and I are thinking warmly 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:46.360 of the Carter family and their loved ones during this 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:49.320 difficult time. We urge everyone to keep them in their 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:51.679 hearts and prayers. And I got to say what I 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:57.600 like about that statement, in particular, is the second paragraph. 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.160 The challenges Jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:05.439 time for our country, unquestionably true. And he did everything 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.320 in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:11.840 And I think that's a very nice way to compliment him, 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:13.960 because I think he did believe he was improving the 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.720 lives of all Americans. Now, Trump did not say his 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.000 policy succeeded in that, but he was earnest in his 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.960 desire and effort, And I thought that was a nice 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:25.600 way for Trump to compliment it. 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.080 Yeah, it really is, and I will say is divided 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:31.880 as politics has been. It is cool to see a 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:36.120 former president put politics aside in many ways later in 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:40.560 his career and his legacy and work with building homes 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.000 and bringing people together in that way. I know several 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.559 people that had the opportunity to help build a home 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:49.360 with him, Habitat for Humanity many different places around the country, 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:51.920 and it really is cool to see that legacy. So 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.040 our thoughts and our prayers are with the family, obviously 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.720 of Jimmy Carter. And any time you have a president 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:01.560 of the United States of America passed way, it's always important. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.480 I think we just take a moment pause and say, 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.040 job well done. I mean, to live one hundred years 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.680 is incredible. To be a president of the United States 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.360 of America, the thirty ninth president, incredible, and to do 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.319 what he did after he left the White House really remaking. 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:17.520 I think how people would remember him, because they don't 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:21.800 really remember the political stuff in the seventies and what 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.800 brought us Ron Reagan. They remember I think that he 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:26.240 built a lot of To be. 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:28.720 Clear, Skippy, you weren't alive then so so you definitely 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:30.520 don't remember it eighty one. 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:32.160 I'm mean eighty one, but my, oh my, did I 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:36.960 hear the stories? I heard the stories. All right, let's get. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:40.600 Well, well, the Reagan Revolution doesn't doesn't make sense without 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.680 the car to predicate. But but that's that's another story 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:47.360 for another day. So let's move to the Washington Post. 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:49.720 And I'm going to do something unusual on this podcast. 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:53.719 So I read this article and my head exploded, and 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:59.120 I texted you and said, this is the most absurd 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.120 self set arising article I've ever seen. So I just 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.880 want to go through it literally, line by line. This 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:09.240 is a major story in the Washington Post banner headline 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:12.600 on Drudge and it is entitled We're just going to 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.240 go through sentence by sentence. It's entitled how Biden leads 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.880 Joe Biden's lonely battle to sell his vision of American democracy. 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:25.440 In his presidency's final chapter, Biden has mused about whether 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:29.200 he should have handled some decisions differently. And the guy 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.280 who wrote this is a guy named Tyler Pager. We're 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:35.240 going to come back to him later. So let's start earlier. 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.160 This year, Representative James E. Clyburn met President Joe Biden 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.000 at the White House to deliver a stern message Biden 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.760 had to find a way to revitalize his flagging campaign. 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.040 Clyburn who had been pivotal to Biden's twenty twenty victory, 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.120 also made a confession about his own long standing belief 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:52.800 that substance is more important than style and politics. 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:53.760 Quote. 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:55.760 I've come to the conclusion in recent days that I'm 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.040 wrong about that, the South Carolina Democrat eighty four remembers, 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.280 telling Biden the new environment that we currently live in, 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:06.720 style seems to carry the day more than substance. Your style, 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.400 he told the President, does not lend itself well to 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:13.839 the environment we're currently in. Clyburne's conclusion, which was shared 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:16.520 by anxious Democrats in the months before the president ended 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:21.199 his reelection bid, undermined brought Biden's theory of presidential leadership. 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:25.520 After Donald Trump's assent, Biden believed that he just needed 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:31.200 to show Americans that traditional democracy still worked by listening, 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:36.280 but two experts working with Republicans passing popular policies, and 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:40.280 voters would rally around him. Right, let's stop there. Okay, 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:44.280 so so far every word of this article, if this 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:46.800 was written by the Biden Press office, it would not 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:50.720 be any different. And this entire article is hagiography. This 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.960 entire article is not journalism. It is not only trying 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:59.080 to praise breathlessly as we're going to go through Joe 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:03.480 Biden and cas tim as a mighty titan, but it 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:08.560 is profoundly dishonest. So it starts with the frame that 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.080 Biden's great success is on substance, not style. And the 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:14.760 obvious implication of which we're going to get more is 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.559 that all Trump has his style. There's no substance. That's 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:21.640 the obvious implication. Let's take this last sentence after Donald 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.680 Trump's assent, Biden believed he just needed to show Americans 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:28.000 that traditional democracy still worked. 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.560 We're going to get more into democracy a second. 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:36.280 By listening to experts, working with Republicans and passing popular policies. 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:39.160 All right, what experts did he listen to? He did 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.200 not work with Republicans. Every damned thing he passed he 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.120 rammed through on a vicious party line vote. He used 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:49.000 budget reconciliation over and over again with no Republicans and 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:54.840 passing popular policies. Nobody helped Donald Trump get elected more 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.320 than Joseph Robinette Biden Junior, because his policies were so 0:14:58.560 --> 0:14:59.960 incredibly unpopular. 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:04.120 All right, let's keep going back to the article. 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.960 Quote he succeeded in phase one of his plan? Did 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:12.600 he now enacting legislation, much of it bipartisan, to reshape 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:17.560 the nation's infrastructure, revive the semiconductor industry, and fight climate change. 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.000 Let's be clear the climate change. The Inflation Reduction Act 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.160 was a straight party line vote rammed through in reconciliation. 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:29.480 But phase two never happened. The truth of Biden's presidency 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:31.920 is that he has failed in what, by his own count, 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:38.120 his most important mission, making Trump's presidency seem like an aberration. 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:44.960 Quote he governed through traditional processes and institutions, said Julians E. Zellezer, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:49.320 a moron presidential historian at Princeton University. It doesn't say moron, 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.040 but you're going to see that everything this guy says. 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.400 I know he's sadly a professor at my alma mater. 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.880 He's a complete moron. Let's start with the traditional processes 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:04.920 and institutions. There's nothing traditional about weaponizing the federal government 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.479 to go after your opponents. There's nothing traditional about prosecuting 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:12.000 and indicting the former president over and over and over again. 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:17.480 There's nothing traditional and using the institutions about opening the 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.480 border and having an invasion of our country. But here 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.400 the good Princeton professor quote, it didn't change the picture 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.960 where he started this anger in the electorate towards institution. 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:33.640 This support for a pretty radical conservative vision that Trump embodied, 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:37.560 it didn't do anything to end the very intense polarization 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:38.960 that exists in this country. 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:39.480 Now. 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.360 The idea that Trump is a radical conservative is a 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:47.480 bizarre idea. Trump ran on securing the border, bringing down inflation, 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.280 standing with our friends, and defeating our enemies. That is 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.760 that is very hard to characterize as a quote radical 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:57.080 conservative vision. But hey, the Princeton professor says it, and 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:01.720 the Washington Post breathlessly sports it. We're gonna go on, 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:03.640 but give me your thoughts so far, then we'll go 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:04.320 back to the article. 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:08.399 I'm not surprised that this is how they want to 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.240 just rewrite history part of this and just be be 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.040 so delusional. I am a little bit. 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:14.680 It gets worse. 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.520 I'm a little bit shocked though. If they like you 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:22.439 know how you're supposed to like proofread before you print. 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.680 If you're reading what you just wrote. That you just read. 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:29.359 I would think there would be a moment where you 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:31.280 might be like, I don't know if this needs to 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.520 see the light of day. Yet here it is. They 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:34.359 put it out there. 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.679 All right, Let's keep going because it gets much much worse. 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:42.280 Previous articles in this series examine the pillars. Oh, they're 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.080 so strong. The pillars, the pillars of Biden's leadership, how 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.000 he absorbs information, how he makes decisions, how he communicates 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:50.760 with Americans. 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:52.800 They showed that Biden. 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:55.560 Even at the peak of his glorious magnificent power, doesn't 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:59.480 say glorious magnificent, but it's just implied, struggled mightily to 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:03.320 communicated his decisions and vision. This article, based on interviews 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:06.200 with more than two thousand people close to Biden, reveals 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.600 the ways in which his theory of how to succeed 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.840 in an era of American politics dominated by Trump fell 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:15.000 apart in the final phase of his presidency, and how 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.800 he's been publicly and privately rethinking whether he should have 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:22.080 handled some decisions differently even some of his closest advisers 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.800 without faulting. Biden conceded recently that his style of governing 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:31.160 did not always mesh with today's politics. Quote, the president 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:35.199 has been operating on a time horizon measured in decades, 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:40.320 while the political cycle is measured in four years. Jake Sullivan, 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:44.720 Biden's national security advisor, said, with his lips planted firmly 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.840 on Biden's rear end. That last piece was my com Like, 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:50.639 I want to go back in and listen to that 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:54.960 sentence again. The president has been operating on a time 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:59.960 horizon measured in decades, while the political cycle is made 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:01.320 in four years. 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:02.000 Now. 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:06.080 Look, kudos to the Biden White House for just having 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:11.200 the hutzpah to say, oh, Biden's presidency would be hysteric, 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.080 and you know, you really have to measure decades. Twelve 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.120 million people invading this country. Four years is too short 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:18.000 to measure it. We're going to screw up this country 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:24.240 for decades, you know, undermining our allies, causing two wars, 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.280 a war in Ukraine and a war in Gaza. Like, 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:31.600 you're right, the the harm from Biden will last decades. 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:37.040 But that's their entire spin. Well, yes, everything Biden did 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.280 was profoundly unpopular because all of his policies failed, but 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.520 he's really playing the long game. You foolish people don't 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.000 understand this. This this misery. 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.280 Is good for you. All right, Let's let's keep going. 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:56.440 Sullivan added that Biden's accomplishments, by their nature, will take 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.840 a long time to bear fruit. Quote how to govern 0:19:59.880 --> 0:20:02.720 it this moment to set the US up for long 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.520 term success has one answer, and how to deal with 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:08.480 midterm and presidential elections in the very short term might 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:11.359 have a different answer. He said, the president went with 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:16.960 doing things that really put America in a strong position. Ben, 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:18.960 what the hell have they done to put America in 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:21.040 a strong position in every. 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:22.879 Part of the world. 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.480 America is weaker today than when Joe Biden entered the 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:31.440 White House. Like, this is absurd. And I got to say, 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:32.960 the absurd thing We're gonna go back to this in 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:37.040 a minute, is the Washington Post just publishes this drivel 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:42.040 like its news. That there's not a moment of reflection, 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:47.040 there's not a moment of facts, that there's not a 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:53.320 moment of reality, And it's I mean, how do you 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:57.440 react to that that, oh, he's playing the long game. 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:02.199 Yeah. I think there's two things here. One, there's a 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:04.760 part of me that's like I can't believe it, And 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.199 then there's another part of me it's like good, because 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.960 if you don't learn from your losses, then you're going 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:13.320 to repeat the same mistakes that you just made. And 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:17.119 I think the Democratic Party learned nothing from November. Nothing 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.119 from losing the popular vote, nothing from the resurrection of 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:23.680 Donald Trump, from from two thy to twenty twenty four, 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:28.160 nothing from weaponizing the government, nothing from overspinning and no accountability, 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.240 and honestly nothing, They've learned nothing from having a president 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:34.920 that quickly was incapacitated. So part of me is like good, Yeah, 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:38.160 keep writing these types of articles because it's gonna help 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.440 conservatives like you and I be able to be way 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.600 more successful in getting this country back on track. 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.560 Well, the Ben the Post just reported that he absorbed 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:53.200 information like you know, some some sort of nobel you know, scientists, 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:57.040 Like just all right, let's let's go back. As his 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:01.160 presidency and his fifty year political career down far faster 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:04.720 than he wanted, Biden's taken to acknowledging some strategic mistakes, 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:07.879 both big and small. Many of those missteps resulted from 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:11.199 his determination to restore the age old rules of the 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:15.639 American presidency after Trump's term, a determination that many of 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:20.760 his supporters in retrospect consider a politically fatal error. All right, 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:22.840 so what are the age old rules of the American 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:26.359 presidency that he returned to earlier this month in a 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:31.080