Speaker 1: Well, happy Monday. Welcome.
Speaker 2: It is Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
Speaker 2: And if you missed our podcast that we did over
Speaker 2: the weekend on the Zolensky disaster in the Oval Office,
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you right now. We put out
Speaker 2: that emergency pod. Go back, listen to it, grab it.
Speaker 2: That's why if you have any of that subscribe auto
Speaker 2: down with button, make sure you do that so you
Speaker 2: never miss when those big moments happen and we get
Speaker 2: together and do a show real quick, Senator, We've got
Speaker 2: a lot happening right now, including a joint session of Congress.
Speaker 2: It's going to happen on Tuesday. But Zolensky left the
Speaker 2: White House and he hauled it to Europe begging for money.
Speaker 3: Well, the fallout continues from the epic meeting last week
Speaker 3: between Presidents Zelensky and Donald Trump. The consequences have been massive.
Speaker 3: As you mentioned, we did an emergency podcast Friday afternoon,
Speaker 3: within hours of the meeting. We put it out. Normally
Speaker 3: we put out pods Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We put
Speaker 3: out two pods on Friday, Friday morning and one Friday afternoon.
Speaker 3: We did it because we wanted to cover what was
Speaker 3: happening then because it was that consequential. So I will say,
Speaker 3: as Ben just mentioned a minute ago, if you didn't
Speaker 3: listen to Friday Afternoon's pod, I'd encourage you to go
Speaker 3: back and listen to it. I believe this will go
Speaker 3: down in history as the most disastrous Oval Office his
Speaker 3: meeting that has ever occurred. We're going to break that down.
Speaker 3: We're going to break down the fallout that has happened
Speaker 3: in three days since that meeting. We're else going to
Speaker 3: talk about the fact that tomorrow is the first State
Speaker 3: of the Union address for the second Donald Trump term.
Speaker 3: We're going to talk about what President Trump is likely
Speaker 3: going to say tomorrow and how it's going to be received.
Speaker 3: All on today's pod.
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Speaker 2: All right, so let's give a quick recap of what
Speaker 2: you mentioned a second ago. But you think this is
Speaker 2: going to go down history. This meeting at the Oval
Speaker 2: Office is maybe the worst Oval Office meeting in history.
Speaker 2: It seems that Zelensky may be agreeing with you at
Speaker 2: this point by the amount of backtracking he's done. He's
Speaker 2: done some interviews, he's saying, we can get this done
Speaker 2: with America. He ran to Europe begging for aid support,
Speaker 2: help money, and now there's basically the UK and France
Speaker 2: are like, you screwed up big. We're gonna try to
Speaker 2: help you put this deal back together and will be
Speaker 2: the liaison with the United States of America since you
Speaker 2: screwed it up so badly.
Speaker 3: Well, Zelensky's Oval Office performance was disastrous, And listen, at
Speaker 3: some level, it's not complicated what he had to do.
Speaker 3: He was there to come to President Trump and seek
Speaker 3: his help, seek his help, seek the United States to
Speaker 3: stand with him in some way, shape or form in
Speaker 3: their war with Russia. And Zelensky is belieguered, he's a
Speaker 3: wartime leader. He feels desperate. But to be clear, the
Speaker 3: United States is also his principal patron, his funder, the
Speaker 3: person who has paid for the war for years, has
Speaker 3: sent hundreds of billions of dollars to Ukraine. And so
Speaker 3: in any sane and rational world, Zelensky would come into
Speaker 3: the Oval Office hat in hand, would come into the
Speaker 3: office being grateful for the support that the United States
Speaker 3: has given, and to be honest, kissing Trump's ass. I
Speaker 3: mean that this is not a complicated dynamic. And by
Speaker 3: the way, it's also not a new dynamic. I've been
Speaker 3: in a lot of Oval Office meetings. Just about every
Speaker 3: foreign leader comes in and treats the President of the
Speaker 3: United States with respect. That is incumbent on the office.
Speaker 3: The United States is the world's leading superpower, and so
Speaker 3: foreign leaders, foreign heads of state, whether they like the
Speaker 3: president or not, they treat the president with respect. I
Speaker 3: will tell you any president, if there were a foreign
Speaker 3: leader who treated them the way Zelenski treated Trump, would
Speaker 3: have been pissed off and the consequences would have been bad.
Speaker 3: With Trump, the consequences were spectacularly bad. And listen, one
Speaker 3: needn't be a forensic psychologist to understand that it is
Speaker 3: a really dumb idea to go into a meeting with
Speaker 3: Donald Trump and insult him and condescend him and attack him.
Speaker 3: If you do that, Ben, I can actually give out
Speaker 3: the probabilities to amazing precision. If you attack and insult
Speaker 3: Donald Trump, the chances that he will punch back are
Speaker 3: one hundred point zero zero zero percent, especially in every instance.
Speaker 1: Always I mean, yeah exactly, I mean.
Speaker 3: Behind Cloor on Global TV.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like, and that's the part where it was like
Speaker 2: such shocking tone death and you and I mentioned this
Speaker 2: in the pot on Friday. But the ambassador from the Ukraine,
Speaker 2: I think she's said up perfectly, holding her head in
Speaker 2: her hands, like this is a disaster that no one
Speaker 2: knows how to fix.
Speaker 3: So look, I think the problem is Zelenski has been
Speaker 3: surrounded by an echo chamber of left wing Democrats. He's
Speaker 3: been piling around with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. He's
Speaker 3: been piling around with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He's
Speaker 3: been piling around with the New York Times and and
Speaker 3: and he's become this is a guy who appears in
Speaker 3: Vanity fairap, he appears in People magazine, and he's become
Speaker 3: a leftist. Caused a joure and and he made I
Speaker 3: think the stupid assessment of Gosh, all the people I
Speaker 3: hang around with they hate Donald Trump. They think Donald
Speaker 3: Trump is an idiot, So I should go in and
Speaker 3: treat Donald Trump like he's an idiot. And and it
Speaker 3: was I think he felt. I think Zelensky went into
Speaker 3: the Oval performing for The New York Times and believing
Speaker 3: that that that that the world be like, Oh, Zelensky
Speaker 3: stands up and puts Trump in his place, ha, And
Speaker 3: it was truly absurd. It backfired enormously. And by the way,
Speaker 3: that this is the same political idiocy that led Zelensky
Speaker 3: last fall to go and effectively do a campaign event
Speaker 3: with Kamala Harris and Pennsylvania and to come to the
Speaker 3: United States in the middle of the presidential campaign, to
Speaker 3: come to the United States and do a New York
Speaker 3: Times interview attacking Donald Trump a month out from the election.
Speaker 3: And you and I did a whole pot at the time. God,
Speaker 3: what the hell is wrong with this guy? Is he
Speaker 3: just an idiot? Look, I don't know who's going to
Speaker 3: win the race. Both you and I thought Trump was
Speaker 3: gonna win, but nobody knew for sure. At a minimum,
Speaker 3: Zelensky knew there was some real possibility that Trump was
Speaker 3: going to be the president. Did he think it made sense?
Speaker 3: Like what foreign leader comes. By the way, I wouldn't
Speaker 3: have advocated Zelensky should come campaign for Trump either. He's
Speaker 3: the president of Ukraine. He ought to be focused on
Speaker 3: Ukraine and stay the hell out of our elections. Like
Speaker 3: like it was an idiotic out of it.
Speaker 1: There's no upside to this.
Speaker 2: And then whoever wins, that's who you work with and
Speaker 2: that's how it is, So why would you risk it?
Speaker 1: But this goes back to one of two things.
Speaker 2: Is this because he is not a he's a fake
Speaker 2: politician the sense where he's an actor that you know,
Speaker 2: figured out a way to get this job and there's
Speaker 2: no elections happening there right now. And he feels like
Speaker 2: he believes the international press, which by the way, did
Speaker 2: turn him into a rockstar. Mean, he became the Taylor
Speaker 2: Swift of dudes in politics and was piped into the
Speaker 2: award shows like we had on Sunday Night. I Mean,
Speaker 2: this is a guy that I think started maybe believing
Speaker 2: the press that he's untouchable.
Speaker 1: He's amazing, he's just incressible leader.
Speaker 3: Look, he thinks he's George Washington. He thinks he's Winston Churchill.
Speaker 3: He thinks he is he is larger than life, and
Speaker 3: everyone around him, and particularly Donald Trump, are just beneath him,
Speaker 3: and that arrogance and condescension came out, and it really
Speaker 3: is I think it's it's the danger of believing your
Speaker 3: own pr like believing your own bs.
Speaker 1: Listen.
Speaker 3: I've met Zelensky multiple times. You know, people ask me,
Speaker 3: all right, is the guy totally and utterly corrupt? And look,
Speaker 3: I want to urge our verdict. Listeners, there is a
Speaker 3: danger in talking about Ukraine and foreign policy to fall
Speaker 3: into extremes and to say either Zolensky is a glorious
Speaker 3: hero defending liberty and everyone with morality will stand against
Speaker 3: him against the worst skirt humanity has ever seen, Vladimir Putin.
Speaker 3: That's one view I think. I don't think that view
Speaker 3: is right. There is another view, which, if you spend
Speaker 3: your time on Twitter you could see as the sort
Speaker 3: of countervailing view, which is Zelensky is a corrupt, evil autocrat,
Speaker 3: He's a Nazi, he's a terrible human being. He started
Speaker 3: the war against Russia, and Vladimir Putin is a misunderstood
Speaker 3: kind soul who we just need to embrace because he's
Speaker 3: a giant teddy bear and we need to love. Unsurprisingly,
Speaker 3: that view isn't right either. And one of the things
Speaker 3: look that I love about doing a podcast. If you
Speaker 3: do a TV or radio interview, both you and I
Speaker 3: have done a ton of Time Raider interviews. If you've
Speaker 3: got five or six minutes to discuss an issue, you
Speaker 3: got to talk about it in a quick, little SoundBite,
Speaker 3: You got to talk about it a sentence or two.
Speaker 3: This podcast, we can actually talk about issues and don't
Speaker 3: fall into the mistakes of believing the extremes on either
Speaker 3: side my view of this. Has Ukraine struggled with corruption, Yes,
Speaker 3: it has for a long time been one of the
Speaker 3: most corrupt countries in Europe. There's been endemic corruption throughout
Speaker 3: the government, throughout the economy. Absolutely. Yes, is Zelensky implicated
Speaker 3: in that, I don't know, but given the history of
Speaker 3: corruption in his country, it's not reasonable to acknowledge there's
Speaker 3: some reasonable possibility. It's not unreasonable to acknowledge there's some
Speaker 3: reasonable possibility of that. The United States has also been
Speaker 3: shoveling hundreds of billions of dollars to this war with
Speaker 3: no accountability. It's been dragging on forever, and people are
Speaker 3: tired of it. People want it to be over. Donald
Speaker 3: Trump campaigned on where going to end the war in Ukraine.
Speaker 3: Enough is enough. We're not sending our money there anymore.
Speaker 3: That is a mandate that came out of the election.
Speaker 3: Now you may not like that, you may not agree
Speaker 3: with it. But Trump was not hiding that was the
Speaker 3: outcome he wanted. Kamala Harris was not hiding the outcome
Speaker 3: she wanted, which is to pay for the war forever
Speaker 3: and ever and ever, and keep shoveling cash to Ukraine
Speaker 3: no matter what. But by the way, not enough cash
Speaker 3: that they win, and not cutting off the money to Iran,
Speaker 3: which is making drones and sending him to Russia that
Speaker 3: it's using them to kill Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. So
Speaker 3: fund both sides in perpetuity to keep the war machine going.
Speaker 3: That was Kamala's position. The voters voted for Trump, that
Speaker 3: mandate means something. But I will say, if you look
Speaker 3: at the aftermath of the Zelensky Oval Office meeting, it
Speaker 3: was a disastrous meeting for Ukraine. I actually think because
Speaker 3: Zelenski's performance was so bad, it was not a good
Speaker 3: meeting for America. Zelensky did harm to America too. Why
Speaker 3: because who was happiest in the world about that meeting?
Speaker 3: And the answer is Vladimir Putin. I think Putin was
Speaker 3: laughing his ass off as he watched that because Zelensky
Speaker 3: was such a hirk that he did real damage to Ukraine.
Speaker 3: And the consequence of Zelenski's behavior is it benefits Russia,
Speaker 3: and benefiting Russia is not good for America. I do
Speaker 3: want to urge everyone who listens to this podcast, is
Speaker 3: I watch Twitter. We're so captured by tribalism that there
Speaker 3: are people on the right who are fed up with
Speaker 3: the Joe Biden's and Kamala Harris's and the virtue signaling
Speaker 3: on Ukraine that they've decided Putin is just awesome. Let
Speaker 3: me be clear, Putin is a KGB thug. He is
Speaker 3: a murderer. Putin is not our friend. And Putin's ambitions
Speaker 3: you don't have to intuit them, you don't have to
Speaker 3: infer them. He has told us his ambitions. He has
Speaker 3: said that he believes the greatest geo political disaster of
Speaker 3: the twentieth century is the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Speaker 3: He wants to reassemble the Soviet Union. In fact, he
Speaker 3: said more. He said he wants to go back to
Speaker 3: the old Russian Russian Empire before the Soviet Union, but
Speaker 3: that was even broader, and that had Russia controlling much
Speaker 3: of modern Europe. That would be a disastrous outcome for America.
Speaker 3: My views America first, which means I want our allies
Speaker 3: to be strong and I want our enemies to be weak.
Speaker 3: It's the reason I've urged President Trump. Yes, you campaigned
Speaker 3: on we should end the war in Europe. Enough is enough,
Speaker 3: stop sending money. But we want a negotiated outcome that
Speaker 3: is a clear loss for Russia. Why, because Russia is
Speaker 3: our enemy. Putin is our enemy, and we don't want
Speaker 3: our enemy made stronger. Zelenski's performance was so bad, so outrageous,
Speaker 3: so infuriating, that Zelenski increased the chances of an outcome
Speaker 3: that benefits Putin, and then that is bad for Ukraine,
Speaker 3: bad for America, and bad for the.
Speaker 1: World, which brings us to now where we are.
Speaker 2: And look, you've got uk in, France and Ukraine that
Speaker 2: have agreed to quote work on a ceasefire plan and
Speaker 2: try to get I guess Zolensky back into a conversation
Speaker 2: with the President of the United States of America. They're
Speaker 2: having this big meeting over in Europe. A lot of
Speaker 2: different countries are there. The summit includes France, Germany, Denmark, Italy,
Speaker 2: the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Chez Republic
Speaker 2: in Romania, the Turkish Foreign Minister, the NATO Security General,
Speaker 2: and the Presidence of the European Commission and the European
Speaker 2: Council will also attend. Now you notice I didn't say
Speaker 2: the United States of America. This is part of I
Speaker 2: think the most interesting part of President Trump's meeting with Zelenski.
Speaker 2: It's like, look, you take us for granted. You come
Speaker 2: in here, you lecture us, you have no plan for peace.
Speaker 2: You clearly aren't here for peace.
Speaker 1: Good luck.
Speaker 2: And now all of these other leaders are having to
Speaker 2: step up and say, okay, let us try to help
Speaker 2: you fix this so that we can save your country
Speaker 2: because he did so much harm to Ukraine.
Speaker 3: And look, I say, great, if Europe wants to step
Speaker 3: up and fund the war for another year, knock yourselves out, guys,
Speaker 3: like our checkbook is done. But it is striking. It's
Speaker 3: an indication of just how disastrous. Zelensky's meeting was that
Speaker 3: he immediately ran to the United Kingdom to France to
Speaker 3: meet with the King of England. All right, here's one
Speaker 3: story from NPR. UK Prime minister on veil steps towards
Speaker 3: a Ukraine peace deal urges US cooperation. Here's what NPR
Speaker 3: reports quote. British Prime Minister kir Starmer on Sunday laid
Speaker 3: out of framework for a plan to end Russia's war
Speaker 3: in Ukraine, one where Europe will lead the charge for
Speaker 3: securing peace yay, while still relying heavily on US backing boo.
Speaker 3: The proposal is the result of emergency talks held by
Speaker 3: European leaders in London following President Trump's heated exchange with
Speaker 3: Ukrainian President of Vladimir Zelenski at the end at the
Speaker 3: White House last week. Over the weekend, leaders from over
Speaker 3: a dozen countries got together to discuss a roadmap for
Speaker 3: peace and security for Ukraine as the country faces its
Speaker 3: third year of war with Russia. The emergency summit was
Speaker 3: also aimed at working to preserve Ukraine's relationship with the
Speaker 3: US and Americans involvement in the war overseas. Starmer said
Speaker 3: that Europe must do the quote heavy lifting to secure
Speaker 3: a lasting peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and that
Speaker 3: the UK should lead the front. He emphasized that quote
Speaker 3: this effort must have strong US backing, which if he
Speaker 3: means more hundreds of billions of dollars, the answer is no,
Speaker 3: thank you. But he continues quote. Through my discussions over
Speaker 3: recent days, we've agreed that the UK, France and others
Speaker 3: will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting,
Speaker 3: Starmar sent at a press conference on Sunday. Then we'll
Speaker 3: discuss that plan with the United States and take it
Speaker 3: for we're together now. It's interesting to do so. Starmar
Speaker 3: valve the United Kingdom would ramp up at support for Ukraine.
Speaker 3: That included a loan of what do you think?
Speaker 1: A lot of money? Right?
Speaker 3: What do you think? Pick a number?
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, see, this is when you get me in trouble,
Speaker 2: because I'm going to either be way too low or
Speaker 2: way too high.
Speaker 1: Let's call it.
Speaker 3: Fifty million, so higher than that, so you're even more pessimistic.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: That includes a loan of two point twenty six billion
Speaker 3: British points two point eight four billion dollars, So look
Speaker 3: two point eight four billion dollars. That's real money, except
Speaker 3: for the fact that the United States has spent about
Speaker 3: one hundred and seventy five billion dollars on Ukraine. That's
Speaker 3: part of the fundamental imbalance there.
Speaker 2: Well, look, I love the breath thing about finding money,
Speaker 2: like you go back to Trump saying like, we're no
Speaker 2: longer just an open blank check. There was also something
Speaker 2: else that was said that Europe quote needs to step
Speaker 2: in and release some two hundred billion euros it's two
Speaker 2: hundred and seven billion in quote seized Russian assets to
Speaker 2: help fund the war efforts. So all of a sudden
Speaker 2: they're now saying, well, we got two hundred billion or
Speaker 2: two hundred and seven billion in US dollars two hundred
Speaker 2: billion euros of seize Russian assets. Maybe we should use
Speaker 2: that money instead of our own money to help them
Speaker 2: in Ukraine. And I'm like, wow, you turn off this
Speaker 2: picket in America, a brilliant, simple plan, and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden they find two hundred billion euros sitting around
Speaker 2: They're like, Okay, maybe we can give that.
Speaker 1: To them now. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Look, I'm all for the Europeans stepping in and doing
Speaker 3: everything they can if they want to do that, knock
Speaker 3: yourself out. They're welcome to spend their money, but we're
Speaker 3: not the welfare provider for the world. And to be clear,
Speaker 3: why are we borrowing when we got thirty six trillion
Speaker 3: dollars in debt? Why are we borrowing money from China
Speaker 3: to give it to other countries. That makes no sense,
Speaker 3: and it is an interesting shift.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: Look, I will say one of the frustrating things about
Speaker 3: this meeting last week in the Oval is the meeting
Speaker 3: was there to sign an agreement, an agreement that had
Speaker 3: been negotiated ahead of time. And that agreement was an
Speaker 3: agreement where Ukraine would give the United States a substantial
Speaker 3: interest in its rare earth minerals and valuable resources to
Speaker 3: pay back the one hundred and seventy five billion dollars
Speaker 3: we've given them. That agreement made a lot of sense.
Speaker 3: That agreement was pre negotiated. I think the White House
Speaker 3: thought Zelensky was going to show up, sign the agreement
Speaker 3: and leave. He didn't. Instead, he put on this performance.
Speaker 3: And I actually want you to listen to this exchange
Speaker 3: on CNN because it's a striking exchange. The first speaker
Speaker 3: of Scott Jennings, who by the way. Scott Jennings is
Speaker 3: doing a phenomenal job on CNN, being a voice of
Speaker 3: reason and common sense fighting against a bunch of numb
Speaker 3: nuts and left wing comedies. Really doing an effective job.
Speaker 3: And he's in this case talking with Josh Rogan. Josh
Speaker 3: Rogan is is a very smart reporter for Washington Post Intelligence.
Speaker 3: He does foreign policy. But look, Josh Rogan and Scott
Speaker 3: Jennings do not often agree. Listen to this back and
Speaker 3: forth as they're analyzing what happened with Zelensky in the
Speaker 3: Oval office.
Speaker 4: I don't know if he needs an apology. He needs
Speaker 4: Zelensky to recognize the position that he's in. We're see
Speaker 4: you as what We're their patron, we're their best hope
Speaker 4: for the killing to stop and for them to emerge
Speaker 4: from this sovereign and prosperous. And we're also their best
Speaker 4: hope as a business partner. I mean, all Zelensky had
Speaker 4: to do today was put on a tie, show up, smile,
Speaker 4: say thank you, sign the papers, and have lunch.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 4: And he couldn't do that. And this followed ten days
Speaker 4: of being difficult in private and now one day of
Speaker 4: being stupid and public. I want this did not have
Speaker 4: to go down this way. And however you feel about
Speaker 4: why it started, why it's going on, who's right and
Speaker 4: who's wrong. We can help them in this and come
Speaker 4: out okay on the other side. And he's making it
Speaker 4: hard now. First of all, I can't believe I'm about
Speaker 4: to say this, but I actually agree with Scott and
Speaker 4: everything that he said was basically right.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: I know I'm going to get killed on social media
Speaker 4: for admitting that, but so be. I have a short
Speaker 4: answer on this, and so the short answer is the
Speaker 4: Trump administration believes that if Ukraine goes into business with
Speaker 4: the United States, that in and of itself is a
Speaker 4: security guarantee. If if your interests become our interests, we're
Speaker 4: going to be interested in making sure our interests are secure.
Speaker 4: So it would have been wise for him to understand
Speaker 4: the economic deal, the mineral deal is a security guarantee
Speaker 4: in and of itself, and he lost sight of that
Speaker 4: today in the arguments premedity.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I think Zelenski misplayed it in the room, and you
Speaker 4: can and we could disagree about Jade Vance's position on
Speaker 4: it or agree on it. But either way, Zolensky certainly
Speaker 4: had been briefed on what the right way to handle
Speaker 4: this was, and all he had to do was walk
Speaker 4: in there and say, thank you, I'm really grateful to
Speaker 4: be here. We want to be partners with the United States.
Speaker 4: We're grateful for your leadership. Where's the papers? And what
Speaker 4: are we having for lunch? That's all he had to do.
Speaker 4: And look, the posturing doesn't have to occur now. If
Speaker 4: he is serious about wanting peace and ending this war,
Speaker 4: you don't have to keep posturing as a tough guy.
Speaker 4: Everybody knows you're tough, all right. The Ukrainians are tough,
Speaker 4: they're brave, they're fighting a much larger country. Everybody knows.
Speaker 4: The question for Zelensky is can you take off the
Speaker 4: military uniform and put on the uniform of diplomacy. He
Speaker 4: failed to test it.
Speaker 2: He failed diplomacy that test today. It was not a
Speaker 2: hard meeting. This wasn't something that was gonna It was
Speaker 2: harder to screw it up than it was to get
Speaker 2: it right.
Speaker 3: Look, he needed mostly to be saying sir, yes, sir,
Speaker 3: thank you, sir.
Speaker 1: May I have another.
Speaker 3: It? And Scott is right. Look, this deal on minerals
Speaker 3: had the advantage for Ukraine of having the Trump administration
Speaker 3: being an integally involved economic partner with Ukraine, that's really beneficial.
Speaker 3: And the alternative is very different, which is without the
Speaker 3: United States, Ukraine's prospects are really dim. And so if
Speaker 3: you know that your prospects for success are miserably sad
Speaker 3: unless President Trump supports you, in what universe do you
Speaker 3: come in and start attacking and insulting him?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it doesn't.
Speaker 2: And this is now how fast can Europe get this
Speaker 2: back together? But I do love they found billions and
Speaker 2: billions and billions of Russian assets, Like, oh well, maybe
Speaker 2: instead of our taxpayers over in Europe paying them giving them,
Speaker 2: maybe we just take this money we can we've seized
Speaker 2: and frozen, and then we'll use that in the war effort.
Speaker 2: That makes more sense for the short term. So we're
Speaker 2: going to go down that road. It's amazing how fast
Speaker 2: Europe found cash when America said it no more from us,
Speaker 2: We're not going to be suckers, Which brings me to
Speaker 2: tomorrow night. Let's just have a little fun with this
Speaker 2: for a second. Because you mentioned earlier to State of
Speaker 2: the Union, others are going to say, well, technically, it's
Speaker 2: a joint session of Congress. Can we explain very quickly
Speaker 2: why the first time the president addresses a joint session
Speaker 2: of Congress it's not technically called to state the Union,
Speaker 2: but afterwards it is okay.
Speaker 3: So I believe tomorrow's address is a state of the Union.
Speaker 3: You're right, but I think the sort of tradition is wrong.
Speaker 3: The origin of the state of the Union comes from
Speaker 3: the text of the Constitution. Article two, Section three provides, quote,
Speaker 3: he the President shall from time to time give to
Speaker 3: the Congress information of the state of the Union, and
Speaker 3: recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge
Speaker 3: necessary and expedient. And so that's the origin of it
Speaker 3: that the Constitution says he shall give to Congress information
Speaker 3: on the state of the Union. Now, traditionally, the first
Speaker 3: address the president gives when he's newly elected is not
Speaker 3: called a state of the Union address. It's rather just
Speaker 3: called an address to a joint Session of Congress. And
Speaker 3: traditionally the first state of the Union is the second
Speaker 3: address he gives. So a year from now that will
Speaker 3: be called a state of the Union. In my view,
Speaker 3: the plain text of the Constitution is of the presidents
Speaker 3: giving Congress his views on the state of the Union.
Speaker 3: It's a State of the Union address, and so I
Speaker 3: think the tradition is wrong. Now it's interesting if you
Speaker 3: go and look at the history of it. Initially it
Speaker 3: started in writing, so George Washington set written messages to
Speaker 3: Congress instead of delivering them in person. So did John
Speaker 3: Adams to Thomas Jefferson. So it started out that the
Speaker 3: State of the Union was delivered in writing. Then Woodrow
Speaker 3: Wilson in nineteen thirteen delivered his message in person, and
Speaker 3: Franklin Roosevelt did the same. The first radio broadcast of
Speaker 3: the State of the Union was in nineteen twenty three,
Speaker 3: and the first televised advised address was in nineteen forty seven.
Speaker 3: And it wasn't until nineteen sixty five, which is not
Speaker 3: really that long ago, that President Johnson began delivering the
Speaker 3: address in primetime, and then in nineteen sixty six the
Speaker 3: opposition party began offering a televised response to the president's speech.
Speaker 3: So today we think of it as a national speech
Speaker 3: that's covered on TV on every one of the stations.
Speaker 3: It didn't start out that way, but tomorrow we're going
Speaker 3: to see exactly that, a national speech given to the country,
Speaker 3: given to a Joint Session of Congress. I'll be sitting
Speaker 3: there on the floor of the House listening to it,
Speaker 3: and as will millions of people across America and all
Speaker 3: across the world.
Speaker 1: What do you expect in this speech?
Speaker 2: I mean, this is going to be one where I
Speaker 2: think it's going to be a lot about A we
Speaker 2: one B this is what we're getting done for the
Speaker 2: American people. I think the present understands how important this
Speaker 2: speech is to continue momentum moving forward for DOGE and
Speaker 2: other things. But I actually think this is one of
Speaker 2: the most important speeches he's going to give because this
Speaker 2: is at that critical moment where it's like, all right,
Speaker 2: you know, are we winning. Yes, here's what we're doing,
Speaker 2: Here's what we promised we were going to do, and
Speaker 2: keep supporting and backing us because we're all in.
Speaker 3: So my prediction is the theme of the speech will
Speaker 3: be promises made, promises kept, and it will have many
Speaker 3: similar themes that the inauguration speech had about the mandate
Speaker 3: from the last election. But the difference is going to
Speaker 3: be the inauguration speech was on the first day of
Speaker 3: the second term, so at that point nothing had happened yet.
Speaker 3: It was literally raising his hand and taking the oath
Speaker 3: of office is what made him president. So we hadn't
Speaker 3: been able to do anything yet this second term when
Speaker 3: he gave that speech. In this instance, we have seen
Speaker 3: the most consequential first forty days of a president in history.
Speaker 3: There's never been a president hit the ground running the
Speaker 3: way Donald Trump has. There's never been a president issue
Speaker 3: as many executive orders do as much as Donald Trump is,
Speaker 3: and so I expect the speech to be number one.
Speaker 3: I expect a lot of focus on the border. So
Speaker 3: on the border, I think the President is going to say,
Speaker 3: we had chaos, we had open borders, we had twelve
Speaker 3: million illegal immigrants, we had the worst illegal immigration in
Speaker 3: the history of our country. We had an invasion at
Speaker 3: our southern border. The American people said enough is enough
Speaker 3: is enough. I expect the President to point to in
Speaker 3: the gallery victims of illegal immigration. I expect to see
Speaker 3: the families of people who were murdered by illegal immigrants,
Speaker 3: whether lacoln Riley or Joscelyn Nungary or Rachel Morin. I
Speaker 3: expect to see the families, uh to highlight this was
Speaker 3: a tragedy, it was wrong, and Americans were suffering every
Speaker 3: damn day as I put it at at the RNC
Speaker 3: convention this year, and we've seen in just forty days
Speaker 3: the number of illegal crossings plummet over ninety percent. I
Speaker 3: fully expect President Trump to say, you elected me to
Speaker 3: fix this problem, and we are fixing the problem. If
Speaker 3: you're a murderer, if you're a rapist, if you're a
Speaker 3: child molester, if you're a Venezuelan gang member, get the
Speaker 3: hell out because if you do it, don't We're going
Speaker 3: to find you. We're going to arrest you, We're going
Speaker 3: to deport you. We will secure the border. And that's
Speaker 3: a promise made and a promise kept. I think that's
Speaker 3: going to be a major major theme.
Speaker 2: I think entertant on enter how important do you think
Speaker 2: this is? I mean, is this one of those where
Speaker 2: your ik if you're able to.
Speaker 3: Look, I think it's important. I don't think it is,
Speaker 3: you know, game changing either way. I think the President
Speaker 3: will do a good job. I got to say State
Speaker 3: of the Unions are always interesting, and we'll talk about
Speaker 3: on Wednesday's pod.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about how.
Speaker 3: It was, and so you and I will record this
Speaker 3: after the State of the Union. That's going to be
Speaker 3: a brutal one. By the way, because the State of
Speaker 3: the Union goes on forever. And then I typically do
Speaker 3: various media. I don't know if I'm doing Hannity. I
Speaker 3: often do Hannity after State of the Unions. But I'll
Speaker 3: do some media and then you and I will record
Speaker 3: the pod at midnight or one in the morning. So
Speaker 3: but we will record it and I will give you
Speaker 3: my real time assessments of how it went. But look,
Speaker 3: I think the President is going to do a terrific
Speaker 3: job with it. And I don't know that it matters.
Speaker 3: I don't know that it will change anything fundamentally other
Speaker 3: than I think a lot of people. You will have
Speaker 3: tens of millions of people watching, and you will have
Speaker 3: even more globally watching. And I think the basic message
Speaker 3: the American people voted, they elected us, they gave us
Speaker 3: a mandate, and we are on that mandate. We are
Speaker 3: producing results, We're doing what the voters sent us here
Speaker 3: to do. I think that message is really important, and
Speaker 3: I think that message will be conveyed. I'm glad of that.
Speaker 3: I think that's really important. By the way, I'll say
Speaker 3: one of the things that I'm looking forward to so
Speaker 3: later today I'm going to do an event in the
Speaker 3: Capitol with the First Lady with Melania Trump. I'm going
Speaker 3: to do an event with the First Lady on my
Speaker 3: legislation to take it down. Legislation to take it down.
Speaker 3: Legislation protects young girls, protects women from so called revenge porn,
Speaker 3: protects them from deep fakes. So we've seen multiple instances.
Speaker 3: We've seen teenage girls who won from Texas. Elliston Berry,
Speaker 3: who was a freshman in high school, and she woke
Speaker 3: up one morning and a classmate of hers, a boy
Speaker 3: in ninth grade, had taken a perfectly innocuous picture of
Speaker 3: her from social media, had used AI to create a
Speaker 3: deep fake to make it look like they were naked
Speaker 3: pictures of her. They were not real. They were fake,
Speaker 3: but if you looked at them, you thought they were real.
Speaker 3: The AI technology is such that you can't tell. And
Speaker 3: this boider class had sent it to her classmates, and
Speaker 3: this poor girl woke up in tears. If you can
Speaker 3: imagine you and I are both parents, it's hard to
Speaker 3: be a teenager anytime, but for a young girl to
Speaker 3: have all your classmates think they're looking at naked pictures
Speaker 3: of you, or in some instances, you have deep fake
Speaker 3: videos where they can create pornographic videos of real people
Speaker 3: that look like they're engaged in lude and explicit acts.
Speaker 3: And my legislation that Take It Down Act makes it
Speaker 3: number one a crime to post non consensual intimate images
Speaker 3: and number two, whether real or deep fakes made using AI.
Speaker 3: And number two it puts an obligation on social media
Speaker 3: place platforms, and tech platforms to take this garbage down
Speaker 3: when the victims notified them. In Elliston's situation, I met
Speaker 3: with her. She reached out to me as her senator
Speaker 3: and raised this And it's actually how I encountered the
Speaker 3: issue because it was it was it was a concern
Speaker 3: raised by a constituent, and I drafted this legislation in
Speaker 3: response to her concerns. I met with her and her mom.
Speaker 3: At the time, the pictures had been up on Snapchat
Speaker 3: for nine months, and I asked her and her mom.
Speaker 3: I said, well, what's the story with the pictures now?
Speaker 3: And her mom said they're still up and they said.
Speaker 3: Her mom said, I've called Snapchat, I've emailed them, I've
Speaker 3: gone round and round and round. They will not take
Speaker 3: them down. And I turned to my team, I said,
Speaker 3: damn it, I want you to get the CEO of
Speaker 3: Snapchat on the phone right now this afternoon, and I said,
Speaker 3: those pictures will be down today.
Speaker 1: Ben.
Speaker 3: They pulled the pictures down within two hours. And you
Speaker 3: know what, it should not take a sitting United States
Speaker 3: Senator to make a phone call to make that happen.
Speaker 3: The victim ought to have the right to get that down.
Speaker 3: And so my legislation puts a legal obligation on the
Speaker 3: part of the tech platform if the victim notifies them,
Speaker 3: they have to take it down. So tomorrow I'm going
Speaker 3: to do an event at the Capitol with the First
Speaker 3: Lady of Milania Trump. We're gonna have Elliston, Barry Is there,
Speaker 3: We're gonna have other victims who have been victims there
Speaker 3: to highlight this legislation. My bill has already passed the
Speaker 3: Senate one hundred and nothing. I believe we'll get it
Speaker 3: through the House, and I think you could see the
Speaker 3: President talking about issues like that at the State of
Speaker 3: the Union as well, laying out we have a mandate
Speaker 3: we're going to deliver and here's what we're delivering already.
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
Speaker 2: Well, we're going to have a big show after the
Speaker 2: joint Address State of the Union, on, so get ready
Speaker 2: for that. Make sure you get that subscriber auto download
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Speaker 2: if you'll do that as well, that would be huge,
Speaker 2: And the Senator I will see you back here on
Speaker 2: Wednesday morning.