Speaker 1: Welcome.
Speaker 2: It is Verdict with Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you
Speaker 2: on inauguration Day. Sit back, stretch out America. Donald Trump
Speaker 2: is back and it's going to be a glorious Monday
Speaker 2: and Center.
Speaker 1: You're right there in the middle of all of it.
Speaker 3: Well, I am. Today is a momentous day.
Speaker 4: At noon today, January twentieth, Joseph Robinette Biden Junior will
Speaker 4: cease to be President of the United States and Donald
Speaker 4: John Trump will become the forty seventh President of the
Speaker 4: United States. We will see a new administration come into office.
Speaker 4: We will see the entire direction of the country, the
Speaker 4: path we're on change. We're gonna break down everything that's
Speaker 4: been happening on inauguration today and throughout the weekend. I've
Speaker 4: been up here all weekend, so we're gonna bring inside
Speaker 4: what it's like on an inauguration weekend. That's what we're
Speaker 4: gonna start with. Then we're gonna talk about TikTok TikTok.
Speaker 4: The ban went into effect on Sunday. TikTok went down.
Speaker 4: It's now back up. What's gonna happen now next? What
Speaker 4: does it mean? We're going to break that down all
Speaker 4: of that.
Speaker 2: In this verdict, I want to tell you real quick
Speaker 2: about our friends over at the International Fellowship of Christians
Speaker 2: and Jews. On January the twenty seventh, just a few
Speaker 2: days away, the International Holocaust Rememberance date will be here,
Speaker 2: and that is a day we remember the great evil
Speaker 2: of the Holocaust, when millions of Jews were slaughtered during
Speaker 2: the Nazis reign of terror. Now today, unfortunately, the rise
Speaker 2: in global anti Semitism and the constant attacks on Israel
Speaker 2: show us that it's more important than ever to remember
Speaker 2: the atrocities of the Holocaust to ensure that it never ever,
Speaker 2: ever happens again. And that's why I have partnered with
Speaker 2: the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. What the work
Speaker 2: they do is just truly unbelievable. Not only do they
Speaker 2: provide food and shelter and safety to Jews in Israel
Speaker 2: and around the world, including those remaining Holocaust survivors. And
Speaker 2: that is where your donation today will help provide that food, water, medicine,
Speaker 2: and other basic necessities to the Jewish community, including bomb
Speaker 2: shelters and armored ambulances that have saved countless lives throughout
Speaker 2: the last year and a half and your gift will
Speaker 2: also send a message that you stand with the Jewish
Speaker 2: people against this growing anti Semitism and hatred. So to
Speaker 2: give and show your support right now to the Jewish people,
Speaker 2: you can do it by going to support IFCJ dot org.
Speaker 2: That's one word, support if CJ dot org. You can
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Speaker 1: All right, I gotta be honest with you.
Speaker 2: I'm having fomo and and I were going to come
Speaker 2: up for the inauguration, and then we saw the attempts
Speaker 2: and then we saw that they can and sold it
Speaker 2: being outside, and then it was a question of all right,
Speaker 2: do we come do we not?
Speaker 1: You're there.
Speaker 2: I've seen your pictures, you hang out with family. You
Speaker 2: even got a picture with Snoop Dogg and your daughter
Speaker 2: the crypto ball. It looks like it's been an amazing
Speaker 2: weekend celebrating democracy and Donald Trump coming back into office.
Speaker 3: Well, well it has, and I guess we got to
Speaker 3: start ben with you know, why do you hate America?
Speaker 1: I set you up pretty well for that one right.
Speaker 4: You know, you could choose to be here celebrating a
Speaker 4: new day at America, celebrating changing the course. Well, or
Speaker 4: you could stay at home and say, you know, I'm
Speaker 4: really cold.
Speaker 1: See I can blame you for this.
Speaker 2: Anna said, is Center Cruz going to make sure we
Speaker 2: go with him to see Snoop Dogg's That's what I
Speaker 2: want to do. And I said, he hasn't offered, honey,
Speaker 2: So technically it's your fault.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go back hard.
Speaker 4: You didn't ask, I would have happily brought you in. So,
Speaker 4: particularly because it's already passed. That's the easiest way is
Speaker 4: to offer things in the hypothetical after the effect. So look, look,
Speaker 4: the whole weekend we start started with Friday. So so Friday,
Speaker 4: the Senate was in session this week, and so so
Speaker 4: we voted. We voted actually on the Lake and Riley Act.
Speaker 4: We got a bunch of Democrats who voted for it
Speaker 4: as well. So we actually moved forward with the Lake
Speaker 4: and Riley Act. And it may show that Democrats are
Speaker 4: a little bit scared of the election results, particularly their
Speaker 4: open border policies. Then Friday night we had I started
Speaker 4: the festivities with the party, the Donald Trump Junior hosted
Speaker 4: and there are a bunch of folks there, a bunch
Speaker 4: of cabinet members. There was good, good to celebrate.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: And then went from there to the Crypto Ball. And
Speaker 4: the Crypto Ball was was remarkable. It was a big
Speaker 4: black tie gala and the performer was Snoop dog And
Speaker 4: you know, it's interesting. In the first term, Snoop Dogg
Speaker 4: was not a fan of Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: But but this administration, he is performing at one of
Speaker 4: the inaugural galas, the Crypto Crypto Ball, and h you know,
Speaker 4: I'll tell you my daughter Caroline, as you know, she's
Speaker 4: not particularly into politics, but but I did ask her, hey,
Speaker 4: you got any interest in seeing Snoop Dogg perform?
Speaker 3: And she was all over that that's so fun. So
Speaker 3: it was very you know, look it's good as.
Speaker 1: A game cool yead for like a couple of hours.
Speaker 3: And so it was a good chance, you know.
Speaker 4: And I told her, I said, I'm pretty sure I
Speaker 4: can get you backstage and and and it turned out
Speaker 4: I could, and and so Caroline was up there, and
Speaker 4: we went back back to Snoop's bus and and he
Speaker 4: was there with his entourage.
Speaker 3: We hung out with him for a few minutes.
Speaker 4: He was very kind, took a picture with Caroline, and
Speaker 4: that was It was very nice and very gracious. I'm
Speaker 4: not going to say we were partying with Snoop, but
Speaker 4: we got to meet him and he took a picture
Speaker 4: with Caroline, so that was fun.
Speaker 2: So what is a demeanor like and does it feel
Speaker 2: like it did eight years ago after sixteen or does
Speaker 2: it feel very different this time?
Speaker 1: And explain the difference.
Speaker 4: There's real excitement, there's a greater mandate. Look in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 4: almost nobody believed Trump would win, including Trump, and it
Speaker 4: was everyone was kind of a little shocked. And the
Speaker 4: Trump team had never done this before, and so they
Speaker 4: were trying to figure out what to do. The difference
Speaker 4: now this team is hitting the ground running one hundred
Speaker 4: miles an hour instead of two miles an hour, like
Speaker 4: it is night and day. You look at the cabinet
Speaker 4: members have all been announced, We've already had hearings on
Speaker 4: half the cabinet members. They are hitting the ground running.
Speaker 4: I think today you are going to see somewhere in
Speaker 4: the neighborhood of one hundred executive orders. They're going to
Speaker 4: come down. It is and and the election results were
Speaker 4: so overwhelming for Trump to win the popular vote, for
Speaker 4: Trump to win of the seven swing states, all seven
Speaker 4: with a big majority in the Senate, fifty three Republicans,
Speaker 4: the majority in the House. There's a clear mandate. And
Speaker 4: so I will say, there's an excitement in the air.
Speaker 4: You also don't have the same anger and resistance that
Speaker 4: we had in twenty seventeen. It was such a resounding
Speaker 4: result that the left really is in shock, but there's
Speaker 4: not the disbelief there was in twenty seventeen. In twenty
Speaker 4: seventeen they thought this was a clear aberration, it makes
Speaker 4: no sense and it will be over very very soon.
Speaker 4: They now recognize, wow, this is what the voters wanted.
Speaker 4: And so the feel is fundamentally different.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: After Friday, on Saturday, I went then had had meetings,
Speaker 4: went and spoke to the Texas State Society, which was
Speaker 4: great to see all the folks up from Texas. And
Speaker 4: then went to a party that was hosted by Peter
Speaker 4: Teal and David Sachs, and that was kind of a
Speaker 4: tech artificial intelligence party. And as you know, Peter Teale
Speaker 4: and I and friends for twenty five years, so that
Speaker 4: was fun to see a lot of the techies. I
Speaker 4: then went to the Hispanic Inaugural Ball, which was massive,
Speaker 4: couple thousand people. The excitement there was enormous.
Speaker 2: And by the way, I want people to understand, these balls,
Speaker 2: it is not easy to get tickets.
Speaker 1: I want to be clear.
Speaker 2: It is tough for even people and insiders. So when
Speaker 2: it's a big deal, it's like, I mean, it's a
Speaker 2: really cool thing to get to do.
Speaker 1: I've done an inauguration. It's amazing.
Speaker 2: But it is when people like, oh, I'm gonna go
Speaker 2: to DC, Like, if you don't have an invite, it
Speaker 2: is it is very different than that if you're there
Speaker 2: and you're in the know. And that's one of the
Speaker 2: things I think is actually the excitement around it is
Speaker 2: that you may not get one of these every four years.
Speaker 2: It can be eight years in between, like we saw
Speaker 2: with Obama. So when they get to celebrate your team winning,
Speaker 2: it's a big celebration.
Speaker 1: These are five star events.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Now look, I have to admit it's not my favorite
Speaker 4: thing to do. I don't really like going to black tie,
Speaker 4: big galas. I would much rather sit around the table
Speaker 4: with some good friends with with some scotch and a
Speaker 4: cigar and play poker that I'd take that a thousand
Speaker 4: out of a thousand times as compared to two thousand
Speaker 4: people in a giant auditorium all pressing up and crazy
Speaker 4: that that's not really my scene. But at the same time,
Speaker 4: I got a job to do, and so I'm i.
Speaker 4: You know that the Hispanic Inaugural Ball. I was one
Speaker 4: of the honorary co chairmen of the ball, and so
Speaker 4: I had an obligation to be there and and talk
Speaker 4: to the folks there and congratulate everyone in the enthusiasm
Speaker 4: that's there is enormous. I went from there to the
Speaker 4: America First Policy Institute Ball, which is you know, AFPI
Speaker 4: is a big, big think tech that now that came
Speaker 4: out of Trump World.
Speaker 3: And so was there.
Speaker 4: And and then and then on Sunday, actually started the
Speaker 4: day by having breakfast with President Trump, and and he
Speaker 4: had breakfast with with all of the Republican senators. But
Speaker 4: in classic Trump manner, that breakfast lasted two and a
Speaker 4: half hours.
Speaker 1: And that really was it. Where did you guys meet.
Speaker 3: At the Blairhouse? So the Blairhouse is across the street
Speaker 3: from the White ho House.
Speaker 1: And this is part of history of the inauguration I love.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So, so Blair House is it is typically where the
Speaker 4: president resides before he's sworn in. So so Trump got
Speaker 4: up to d C last night. He took Air Force
Speaker 4: one from mar A Lago up to DC and then
Speaker 4: went to Blair House. And Blair House is also where
Speaker 4: visiting heads of state will stay.
Speaker 3: So if the.
Speaker 4: British Prime Minister is in town, the US government will
Speaker 4: put him up in Blair House. And it's it's a
Speaker 4: very nice residence right across from the White House. So
Speaker 4: that's where Trump is until he's sworn in and moves
Speaker 4: into the White House. And we had we literally arrived
Speaker 4: at nine thirty for breakfast and we left shortly before noon,
Speaker 4: I mean, and it was he basically just kind of
Speaker 4: talked stream of consciousness for two and a half hours
Speaker 4: and we all talked back and forth and had him
Speaker 4: really and he was in great spirits. And then on
Speaker 4: Sunday night, the big thing that is Sunday Night is
Speaker 4: black Tie in Boots, which is the Texas State Society Ball.
Speaker 4: That is always a huge It's it's typically the hottest
Speaker 4: ticket in town. That actually, the Texas Ball has always
Speaker 4: been considered, uh probably the top ball and most fun,
Speaker 4: and it's it's packed and and and then you get
Speaker 4: to Monday morning and Monday morning is is is the
Speaker 4: real shebang? When when when Trump takes the oath of office?
Speaker 4: That will happen noon today.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about also the big change. And there
Speaker 2: was everybody saying, hey, was it the weather? Was it security?
Speaker 1: Was it both?
Speaker 2: At the end of the day, we're not outside for
Speaker 2: the inauguration. It is indoor. Uh, it is something that's
Speaker 2: we've It's happened before, not that long ago. Ronald Reagan
Speaker 2: had one of his indoor because of weather at the time. Uh,
Speaker 2: when you found out about this, how much does that
Speaker 2: change things? Because for example, every every office gets x
Speaker 2: number of tickets for the inauguration. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: people coming up, and then all of a sudden, it's like, hey,
Speaker 2: these tickets are basically something you can frame, but they're
Speaker 2: worthless now because we're moving indoors. So gets on the
Speaker 2: list indoors because it's a lot smaller.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So I'll tell you how I found out about it.
Speaker 4: It actually was Friday afternoon, as it so happened. I
Speaker 4: was in the office of the Speaker of the House,
Speaker 4: and I spent an hour in the Speaker's office with
Speaker 4: the Speaker and me and Lindsey Graham, the three of
Speaker 4: us talking about the issue we did a podcast on
Speaker 4: last week, which is whether to do one reconciliation bill
Speaker 4: or two reconciliation bills. And as we talked about on
Speaker 4: that podcast, the Speaker disagrees with Lindsay and me and
Speaker 4: with just about every senator. He thinks one bill makes sense.
Speaker 4: I think two bills make sense. And we're spent about
Speaker 4: an hour talking about that. And I got to say,
Speaker 4: as I was walking into the meeting with the Speaker,
Speaker 4: we were talking about the inauguration and the fact that
Speaker 4: we were all expecting to be freezing our asses off
Speaker 4: sitting outside. You know, typically for an inauguration, you're out
Speaker 4: on the steps of the capital, you're outside, and Monday
Speaker 4: is projected to be very, very cold to be in
Speaker 4: the teens. And I'll tell you what I was telling
Speaker 4: the Speaker. Look, I just want to make sure that
Speaker 4: they don't like Secret Service, doesn't drag us out there
Speaker 4: two hours early and have us just sit there and
Speaker 4: freeze way before the President gets there. And I'm like,
Speaker 4: you know, come on, miss a Speaker, you can get
Speaker 4: this done. We can get out there right before it
Speaker 4: starts instead of having to like turn into ice boxes
Speaker 4: and have a bunch of octagenarians getting pneumonia. Well, while
Speaker 4: we're meeting with the speaker get he gets handed the
Speaker 4: note card and said, oh, well, problem solved. Trump just
Speaker 4: decided to move it indoor. So it was Trump's call.
Speaker 4: He made the decision. And so now the swearing in
Speaker 4: will occur in the rotunda of the Capital. That is
Speaker 4: the same thing that happened in nineteen eighty five for
Speaker 4: Reagan's second term. In nineteen eighty five, just like this year,
Speaker 4: it was very, very cold on inauguration Day, and so
Speaker 4: they did it indoor. So that's what's going to happen here.
Speaker 4: But what it means is the number of people that
Speaker 4: will be physically present plummets. They're anticipating about six hundred
Speaker 4: people will be in the rotunda. Now give you some
Speaker 4: quick math. They're five hundred and thirty five senators and
Speaker 4: members of the House. If you got six hundred total,
Speaker 4: there ain't a whole lot more people than the members
Speaker 4: of Congress, and an additional sixty five seventy people. So
Speaker 4: virtually everyone who was planning to go. There were thousands
Speaker 4: and thousands of seated seats that people had flown up
Speaker 4: for tickets. There were many, many more thousands of standing
Speaker 4: room only seats would that would extend for blocks and blocks.
Speaker 4: And I do feel really bad for all the folks
Speaker 4: who came up here who were planning to see it.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's an expensive trip to fly to ec
Speaker 4: They were excited and they found out, well, okay, now
Speaker 4: we're not going to get to see it. You know,
Speaker 4: what most people are doing is going somewhere where there's
Speaker 4: a TV and it's warm to go watch it. I
Speaker 4: can tell you I had a bunch of our top
Speaker 4: supporters that flew up here and and so we've we've
Speaker 4: tried to we've been talking with them and try to
Speaker 4: help folks find find warm places. We've got some folks
Speaker 4: that we've got a sports bar where they're gonna come
Speaker 4: come watch it there. Uh, but it a lot of
Speaker 4: people were left just just in the cold. I will
Speaker 4: say this though. If it had been outside, you would
Speaker 4: have people, particularly in the standing room only seats, who
Speaker 4: might be out there six hours or more.
Speaker 3: And I did.
Speaker 2: And that's one thing people don't I don't think understood
Speaker 2: because I had someone calling and like, hey, we've got seats,
Speaker 2: we're going to go, and you know it should be fine,
Speaker 2: we'll just get there right before them. Like it didn't
Speaker 2: work that way. There's incredible security protocol and you're out
Speaker 2: there for hours. I remember it during four this is
Speaker 2: I had a seated seat right up at the front,
Speaker 2: and that seat was frozen solid. When we sat down,
Speaker 2: it was a solid basically sitting on an ice cube.
Speaker 2: And so even if you think, oh, well, you have
Speaker 2: a seat and you can sit down, I would have
Speaker 2: actually preferred to be standing so you can move around
Speaker 2: a little bit, because when it's cold Indie See and Wendy,
Speaker 2: it is cold and windy.
Speaker 4: And look, a lot of people would be getting there
Speaker 4: at like six and seven in the morning, and the
Speaker 4: swearing in doesn't happen till noon. So that's a lot
Speaker 4: of hours to be out in the cold and wind
Speaker 4: and ice. You know, Heidi's in town for it, Caroline's
Speaker 4: in town for it. I had advised them they were
Speaker 4: gonna have heavy jackets and wrap up.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you.
Speaker 4: I bought a new set of Long Johns and went
Speaker 4: on Amazon and order some Long Johns and actually we
Speaker 4: had There were hundreds of tickets that I gave out
Speaker 4: of Texans who wanted to come and asked me to,
Speaker 4: and so we gave out hundreds of tickets. And one
Speaker 4: of the things I had my team do with everyone
Speaker 4: that was going to get a ticket is is I
Speaker 4: got them handwarmers and feet warmers. I figured, all right,
Speaker 4: if they're going to be freezing, you know the things
Speaker 4: that you take skiing that like you can put in
Speaker 4: your gloves or putting your your boots and warm your
Speaker 4: feet and hands. I thought that was a nice thing
Speaker 4: to give the Texans who were coming up here. But
Speaker 4: I will say this because they canceled it.
Speaker 3: Number one.
Speaker 4: Look, I'm glad you've got a bunch of members of
Speaker 4: Congress who were in their eighties. I mean, you could
Speaker 4: easily have had someone catched ammonia and die. I'm sure
Speaker 4: Trump was thinking of William Henry Harrison, who was president.
Speaker 4: He gave a speech on a very cold Washington day
Speaker 4: atn inauguration speech and he died thirty days later. He
Speaker 4: is the shortest president in US history. And you know,
Speaker 4: Trump at seventy eight, I'm sure that precedent occurred to him.
Speaker 4: You know, I can't think it would be very healthy
Speaker 4: for Joe Biden at his age and in his health
Speaker 4: to have him sit a couple hours out in the
Speaker 4: freezing cold. And for that matter, the thousands of people
Speaker 4: standing there. We probably would have had some people get frostbite,
Speaker 4: we might have had some serious health issues. So I
Speaker 4: do think that was a major factor and behind President
Speaker 4: Trump's decision to move it indoors.
Speaker 2: So here's to put it in perspective. Your family that's
Speaker 2: up there for it, do they get to go in
Speaker 2: the rotunda for the swearing d No, So just and
Speaker 2: I knew the answer, but it was just to put
Speaker 2: in perspective. That's how different it's going to be that
Speaker 2: even senators own family members who thought they were going
Speaker 2: to watch the inauguration, they're going to be watching it
Speaker 2: on TV as well.
Speaker 4: So what works to each member of Congress has a
Speaker 4: spouse ticket, and the spouse ticket when it's outside, they're
Speaker 4: seated nearby, and you get one ticket for that. Those
Speaker 4: tickets are not even going to be in the rotunda.
Speaker 4: They're going to be in the Capital Visitors Center, So
Speaker 4: they will be watching it on TV nearby, but they
Speaker 4: won't be physically they're able to see it.
Speaker 1: That's incredible.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about afterwards what's going to happen, because
Speaker 2: you mentioned this earlier that this Trump administration is just
Speaker 2: operating at a different level of sophistication than in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: It is a different level of readiness, and this is
Speaker 2: going to be a huge day for the country, specifically
Speaker 2: for people that voted for change and voted for safety
Speaker 2: and security and secure borders. The number of things that
Speaker 2: we're going to get done right away after Trump is
Speaker 2: torn in is significant.
Speaker 4: It is you know, this is something I talked about.
Speaker 4: So I did two other podcasts this weekend. I went
Speaker 4: on with Barry Weiss on on the Free Press podcast
Speaker 4: and talk with her, and then I also went on
Speaker 4: the All In podcast. Both of them I talked about
Speaker 4: Verdict and then urge listeners of those podcasts come over
Speaker 4: here and subscribe to Verdict. But but you know, we
Speaker 4: talked about what to expect today, and shortly after the
Speaker 4: president has sworn in, we are going to see a
Speaker 4: flurry of executive orders, and I think we're going to
Speaker 4: see something on the order of magnitude of one hundred
Speaker 4: executive orders signed today.
Speaker 3: That is massive.
Speaker 4: Those orders are prepared, they're they're drafted, the lawyers are
Speaker 4: putting the finishing touches on them right now. I don't
Speaker 4: know everyone that's coming out. We can predict a lot
Speaker 4: of them. They're going to be executive orders focusing on
Speaker 4: securing the border. CA Catch and release is going to end.
Speaker 4: When illegal immigrants are apprehended, they will be detained, they
Speaker 4: will be ported. You're going to see law enforcement going
Speaker 4: after and apprehending and arresting criminal illegal aliens, murderers, rapist
Speaker 4: gang members.
Speaker 3: All of that you're going to see early on.
Speaker 4: I'm confident you will see executive orders undoing the Biden
Speaker 4: administration's war on American energy, the war on Texas oil
Speaker 4: and gas.
Speaker 3: I think we'll see that unwind.
Speaker 4: I'm confident we'll see executive orders unwinding DEI initiatives throughout
Speaker 4: the federal government. I'm confident that Joe Biden's artificial intelligence
Speaker 4: executive order will be rescinded.
Speaker 3: The flurry of it will be enormous.
Speaker 4: And the phrase that's being used is shock and awe,
Speaker 4: and I think that's exactly what it is. And I'll
Speaker 4: tell you Ben, in my view, I think there is
Speaker 4: a fixed quantum of outrage. And I actually call that
Speaker 4: quantum the arsenic quantum. And so you and I both
Speaker 4: remember the first term of George W. Bush Bush for three.
Speaker 4: So when Bush forty three came in in two thousand
Speaker 4: and one, one of the first things the Bush administration
Speaker 4: did is it rescinded an EPA rag that had regulated
Speaker 4: how much arsenic can be in water, and it changed
Speaker 4: it from one microscopic amount of arsenic to a different
Speaker 4: microscopic about of arsenic. And for six weeks, the press
Speaker 4: lost their mind and their hair was on fire, and
Speaker 4: they said, the evil Republicans are trying to poison our
Speaker 4: children with arsenic. Now I think today, when Trump issues
Speaker 4: all of these executive orders, you're going to see the
Speaker 4: same outrage, except instead of all directed at arsenic, it's
Speaker 4: going to be at all one hundred. And I actually
Speaker 4: think don't think the outrage gets any greater. That's how
Speaker 4: much outrage there is, which is why I'm expecting today
Speaker 4: to be an extraordinary day. I hope and believe these
Speaker 4: orders are focused on delivering on our promises and carrying
Speaker 4: through on the mandate from the election, And if and
Speaker 4: when they do that, that's a very good thing.
Speaker 2: There's also a different aspect of this, this winning a
Speaker 2: second time after losing, and that is if these one
Speaker 2: hundred executive orders that are signed today make the media mad,
Speaker 2: the press mad, and they lose their mind. I think
Speaker 2: there's a lot of Americans but good. He's doing exactly
Speaker 2: what I sent him back to Washington to do. And
Speaker 2: you didn't have that type of mandate feel I think
Speaker 2: in sixteen like you do now.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, if CNN is happy at what happens today, then
Speaker 4: the incoming team will have screwed up badly. But I
Speaker 4: feel absolutely confidence. I think the odds that CNN will
Speaker 4: be happy are zero points zero percent.
Speaker 3: So that's a good thing.
Speaker 2: Let's move to TikTok for a second, because this has
Speaker 2: actually been a big conversation around the inauguration, elections having consequences,
Speaker 2: laws having consequences, Supreme Court getting involved. So can we
Speaker 2: take it back to square one so that people that
Speaker 2: maybe weren't paying attention to TikTok maybe don't use it.
Speaker 2: They understand TikTok is extremely important to a younger generation,
Speaker 2: and there are a lot of Americans that make a
Speaker 2: living on TikTok. There are a lot of people that
Speaker 2: supports their businesses. There is a lot of things on
Speaker 2: TikTok that you can say are very good. There are
Speaker 2: a lot of things you can also say are very bad.
Speaker 2: But explain what happened with TikTok and why it was
Speaker 2: shut down.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: Congress passed the law last year dealing with TikTok. TikTok
Speaker 4: is owned and controlled by a company called Byte Dance.
Speaker 4: Byte Dance is a Chinese company, and it's a Chinese
Speaker 4: company that is under the direct control of the Chinese
Speaker 4: Communist government. The Chinese Communist government uses TikTok and uses
Speaker 4: it in a way that I think poses a very
Speaker 4: real national security risk to the United States. There are
Speaker 4: some one hundred and seventy million Americans that use TikTok,
Speaker 4: overwhelmingly young people, teenagers, young adults, young professionals, and the
Speaker 4: Chinese Communist government uses it number one to engage an
Speaker 4: espionage to monitor what those Americans are doing, what they're saying,
Speaker 4: potentially where they are. They have the potential to monitor
Speaker 4: their locations. But number two, the Chinese Communist government uses
Speaker 4: TikTok aggressively to push propaganda, to push propaganda that that
Speaker 4: that is number one pro China, and they suppress content
Speaker 4: things like like Tianaman Square. They suppress content about the
Speaker 4: one million wiguers that that are in concentration camps in China.
Speaker 4: They suppress content about Hong Kong or China or Taiwan.
Speaker 4: But but they also push anti American content. They push
Speaker 4: anti capitalist content, they push communist content, they push socialist content.
Speaker 4: They also push harmful content to young people. Uh, they
Speaker 4: push substance abuse, they push self harm that they push
Speaker 4: suicidal ideation. I got to say that the same company
Speaker 4: that owns TikTok, they have a TikTok version in China
Speaker 4: that's very different from the TikTok in America. The Chinese
Speaker 4: kids that are on TikTok, they're getting videos on math
Speaker 4: and calculus, and they're limited in the number of hours
Speaker 4: they can do it, but it's developing the kind of
Speaker 4: skills that are going to make them really effective in life.
Speaker 4: You know, the Chinese kids are getting calculus and our
Speaker 4: kids are getting chewing tide pods.
Speaker 3: That ain't good.
Speaker 4: The Chinese communist government is not doing it because they
Speaker 4: love our kids that they want to see a good outcome.
Speaker 4: We also see heavily skewed political propaganda. So, for example,
Speaker 4: anti Semitism, anti Israel, pro Hamas, pro Hesbela propaganda is
Speaker 4: rampant on TikTok and at a complete differential, wildly different
Speaker 4: ratios than on other social media platforms. And so, given
Speaker 4: China's malevolent use of TikTok, Congress passed a bipartisan bill
Speaker 4: designed to force China to divest from TikTok, and the
Speaker 4: terms of the bill said that TikTok had to shut
Speaker 4: down by January nineteenth unless it had been sold and
Speaker 4: was no longer under the ownership or control of the
Speaker 4: Chinese Communist government. Now, TikTok has done next to nothing
Speaker 4: to comply with the efforts to sell itself. In fact,
Speaker 4: they brazenly said we will not sell. Instead, they've tried
Speaker 4: to do a couple of things. Number one, they've tried
Speaker 4: to engage in litigation. They filed lawsuits. They went all
Speaker 4: the way to the U. S Supreme Court. They argued
Speaker 4: it the US Supreme Court, and TikTok lost unanimously. The
Speaker 4: Supreme Court said, no, your First Amendment argument is not valid.
Speaker 4: So the First Amendment protects the free speech rights of Americans,
Speaker 4: but it doesn't protect the Chinese Communist government, and the
Speaker 4: Supreme Court unanimously concluded this law is focused on national security.
Speaker 4: It's not trying to suppress any Americans free speech. It
Speaker 4: is trying to prevent a hostile government from being able
Speaker 4: to engage in espionage and propaganda in the United States.
Speaker 4: So they devoted a lot of time to litigation, a
Speaker 4: lot of time to lobbyists. They've had lobbyists descend on
Speaker 4: Capitol Hill trying to lobby against the ban. Well, Saturday night,
Speaker 4: at midnight, TikTok turned itself off, and I will tell
Speaker 4: you there were teenagers and young people all across the
Speaker 4: country that expressed enormous dismay when it shut down. But
Speaker 4: they shut it down. And so TikTok for most of
Speaker 4: Sunday was shut down, and then Sunday afternoon they turned
Speaker 4: it back on. And they turned it back on because
Speaker 4: Trump had indicated that he intends to give TikTok an
Speaker 4: other ninety days. The statute has a provision that the
Speaker 4: president can extend the ban for ninety days in order
Speaker 4: to help facilitate a sale of TikTok, and Trump has
Speaker 4: said that's what he intends to do. Look my view
Speaker 4: on this, If in the next ninety days TikTok follows
Speaker 4: through and sells the company to a non Chinese buyer,
Speaker 4: a non Chinese government controlled buyer, ideally to an American company,
Speaker 4: that will be a very, very good thing. The objective
Speaker 4: of this law, it's important understand the objective of this
Speaker 4: law was never to ban TikTok. The objective of this
Speaker 4: law was to force the Chinese Communist government to end
Speaker 4: its ownership and control of TikTok.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's going to happen. I hope
Speaker 3: it's going to happen.
Speaker 4: I am not certain what Trump is going to end
Speaker 4: up doing, but at least right now, he's indicating that
Speaker 4: he intends to exercise the ninety day extension to give
Speaker 4: TikTok time to consummate the sale, and so we'll see
Speaker 4: what happens in the next ninety days.
Speaker 2: One last thing about TikTok, your opinion, if it is
Speaker 2: a threat to national security into our way of life,
Speaker 2: and that's why you say it's so important for it
Speaker 2: to be sold to a non Chinese control company.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, that's why you had overwhelming bipartisan support for this
Speaker 4: legislation because what China is doing with TikTok is really
Speaker 4: harmful and it's a way to spy on Americans and
Speaker 4: it's also a way to really inject harmful content. They're
Speaker 4: trying to drive our country in directions that tears America down,
Speaker 4: and they're not doing it. You know, this is not
Speaker 4: complaining about well, gosh, Hollywood producers are not making wholesome
Speaker 4: movies anymore. This is an adversary that is deliberately pumping
Speaker 4: propaganda to our children. And we would be a foolish
Speaker 4: nation if we said, hey, we're great with the Chinese
Speaker 4: communists having an open pipeline to our kids. That's why
Speaker 4: Congress acted. And as I said, I don't know what
Speaker 4: President Trump will do. Certainly my counsel to him will
Speaker 4: be use this law as leverage and let's force China
Speaker 4: to sell TikTok.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see how
Speaker 2: this happens. Let me ask you one final question on
Speaker 2: this inauguration day.
Speaker 3: Didn't you just have a final question?
Speaker 1: I got no. This is overall though.
Speaker 3: Are you like a used car salesman? One more thing?
Speaker 3: One more thing? You would you like some underco coverage?
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm not there I get my bonus question.
Speaker 2: That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
Speaker 1: When you look at.
Speaker 2: Where we are January twentieth, twenty twenty five, how much
Speaker 2: how excited are you for what we're about to witness
Speaker 2: compared to January twentieth of twenty seventeen, because of how
Speaker 2: prepared we are this.
Speaker 4: Time much more excited Because I think we're much more prepared.
Speaker 3: We're hitting the ground running.
Speaker 4: As I said, the initial Trump team they'd never done
Speaker 4: this before, the initial Trump White House had never worked
Speaker 4: in the federal government. I think there's just a much
Speaker 4: great level of experience and also awareness of the deep state,
Speaker 4: awareness of the career bureaucrats who who who fight against
Speaker 4: a common sense, free market, freedom oriented agenda. And look
Speaker 4: as I look at this array of cabinet nominees, I'm
Speaker 4: really excited. And I think the most consistent characterization of
Speaker 4: these are characteristic of these nominees is that they're change agents.
Speaker 4: They're disruptors, and they're they're going into these agencies to
Speaker 4: change and disrupt how they operate. I think that's a
Speaker 4: very good thing. Now, Listen, there are gonna be moments
Speaker 4: of chaos. They're gonna be mistakes that are made. The
Speaker 4: old Silicon Valley phrase of of you know, move fast
Speaker 4: and break things. I think that's what we're going to see.
Speaker 4: They're going to move fast and some things, some things
Speaker 4: won't work. But I'm excited because I think the overwhelming
Speaker 4: majority of what's accomplished will be very very good for
Speaker 4: the country.
Speaker 2: Well, it's going to be a really fun rest to
Speaker 2: day for everybody. Watch it, enjoy it. It is history, uh,
Speaker 2: and I can tell you I really think also Verdict
Speaker 2: is gonna be really fun this year. I think we're
Speaker 2: gonna have a lot of guests, uh that that because
Speaker 2: of this victory and and and get to cover a
Speaker 2: lot more victories uh than we have ever got to
Speaker 2: do before.
Speaker 1: So get ready for that as well. Don't forget.
Speaker 2: We do the show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have
Speaker 2: that weekend review on Saturday. On those in between days,
Speaker 2: grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcasts. I'll keep you
Speaker 2: up to date during those other big news days. There's
Speaker 2: gonna be a lot of them, so we'll have all
Speaker 2: that for you as well. And the Sinat and I
Speaker 2: will see you back here Wednesday morning.