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Speaker 1: Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz, Weekend Review, Ben

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Speaker 1: Ferguson with you, and these are the stories that you

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Speaker 1: may have missed that we talked about this week. Number one,

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Speaker 1: Hunter Biden agrees to appear, but only if they in

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Speaker 1: Congress agree to his demands. So will it actually happen.

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Speaker 1: We'll explain the politics behind this, plus Disney now having

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Speaker 1: to face the consequences for their liberal ideology, and it

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Speaker 1: may surprise you what Disney's plan is moving forward. And finally,

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Speaker 1: Senator Ted Cruz makes his silver screen debut. It's a

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Speaker 1: funny new movie out called Lady Ballers, and the media

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Speaker 1: they're not happy about it at all. It's the Weekend

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Speaker 1: Review and it starts right now. Hunter Biden agrees to

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Speaker 1: appear before the House Oversight Committee, but I have to

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Speaker 1: get your disreaction to his demands after being subpoened that

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Speaker 1: he will do it, but only in public. That is

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Speaker 1: what his lawyer has now said that yes, he's willing

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Speaker 1: to testify it before the House Oversight Committee, only in public.

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Speaker 1: According the letter from his attorney that he wrote to

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Speaker 1: the Republican lawmakers, I get trying to punch back and

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Speaker 1: look like you're on offense. But to be clear, it

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Speaker 1: is not crazy to have a subpoena behind closed doors.

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Speaker 1: We saw this happen when they were trying to impeach

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Speaker 1: not once but twice Donald J. Trump. They had people

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Speaker 1: come in behind closed doors and they do these sit

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Speaker 1: downs and answer questions under oath. They give their testimony

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Speaker 1: in essence, and then we saw the media go berserk

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Speaker 1: over who is walking in to give their testimony? Why

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Speaker 1: does hunter Biden want it differently? And what's the political

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Speaker 1: play here that we may not understand.

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Speaker 2: Well, you're right that it's quite common for people to

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Speaker 2: be subpoena to testify behind closed doors, and in a

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Speaker 2: closed deposition. That happens regularly. Congressional committees that are investigating

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Speaker 2: something they like to do that. You can often spend

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Speaker 2: more time asking questions. You can you can essentially prepare

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Speaker 2: and build the foundations for an open and public hearing.

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Speaker 2: It's it's it's the due diligence you do before a hearing,

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Speaker 2: and not everyone that you bring in for a closed

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Speaker 2: deposition merits a hearing. So I understand why the committee

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Speaker 2: initially subpoened him to come in uh for a a deposition.

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Speaker 2: I also understand why Hunter Biden came back and said

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Speaker 2: he would do it, but only if it's a public hearing.

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Speaker 2: His lawyer is a guy named Abbi Lowell. I don't

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Speaker 2: know Abby personally, but he has a reputation as one

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Speaker 2: of the most experienced and most talented lawyers in Washington

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Speaker 2: for fighting congressional investigations. And so he does when when

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Speaker 2: when an individual is in a whole lot of trouble

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Speaker 2: with a criminal investigation or congressional investigation. Uh, this this

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Speaker 2: lawyer is one of the top Washington power brokers for

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Speaker 2: fighting back. And the stated reason that Hunter Biden and

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Speaker 2: his lawyer gave is they said, well, well, the Republicans

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Speaker 2: in the House, when they've done closed door depositions, they

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Speaker 2: quote selectively leak portions of the depositions in ways that

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Speaker 2: make the witnesses look bad. So we don't want that

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Speaker 2: to happen. We want the public to see exactly what

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Speaker 2: Hunter says. Now, look, that's a gamble, you know, if

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Speaker 2: you're the lawyer. There is a real advantage for Hunter

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Speaker 2: in keeping it closed door and not having a video,

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Speaker 2: not having it on the news. Will portions of it

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Speaker 2: get leaked? Of course, that's what people in politics do

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Speaker 2: on both sides all the time. The January sixth Committee

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Speaker 2: did it day after day after day after day. Both

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Speaker 2: sides do that. But I will say by demanding that

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Speaker 2: it be public, there's some degree of protection for Hunter

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Speaker 2: Biden and having it be public and that it can't

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Speaker 2: be selectively leaked. You get to hear everything he said.

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Speaker 2: But it's also a risky play having it be public.

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Speaker 2: Even as corrupt as the corporate media is, when Hunter

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Speaker 2: Biden tests before the House, the corporate media cannot avoid

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Speaker 2: covering it. So it will drive a crap ton of news.

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Speaker 2: And I say, crapton is a technical legal term, but

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Speaker 2: it will it will be. And you know, look, I

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Speaker 2: don't know Hunter Biden. I've never met Hunter Biden. I

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Speaker 2: don't know how he is at answering questions, but I

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Speaker 2: have no reason to expect that he's a particularly nimble

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Speaker 2: or effective witness. And so you're going to have some

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Speaker 2: very vigorous questioning. And I will say, listen James Comber.

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Speaker 2: We've had James Comber on this podcast for a two

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Speaker 2: part interview. If you didn't listen to that, by the way,

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Speaker 2: you ought to go back and listen to our two

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Speaker 2: part interview with James Comer. You ought to go back

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Speaker 2: and listen to our two part interview with Jim Jordan.

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Speaker 2: Both of them, we did a deep dive in terms

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Speaker 2: of those House investigations and what they've revealed. A date

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Speaker 2: my counsel to House Republicans when Hunter Biden testifies in

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Speaker 2: an open here is Remember, the reason this is an

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Speaker 2: issue of public concern is not about Hunter. It is

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Speaker 2: not because he's some poor, sad sack with a substance

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Speaker 2: abuse problem. The reason this is a matter of public

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Speaker 2: concern is Joe Biden. The reason this is a matter

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Speaker 2: of public concern is the evidence indicates that Hunter Biden's

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Speaker 2: business was selling favors from Daddy, from Joe Biden to

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Speaker 2: corrupt oligarchs in Ukraine and Russia and communist China. And

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Speaker 2: so the focus needs to be on Joe Biden, on

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Speaker 2: the corruption of the President of the United States, on

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Speaker 2: the evidence that the President of the United States sold favors,

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Speaker 2: on the evidence that the President of the United States

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Speaker 2: solicited and received bribes. And so I hope that that

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Speaker 2: House Republicans can can keep that front and center. But

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Speaker 2: there's no doubt when Hunter testifies, it is going to

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Speaker 2: drive a whole lot of news center.

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Speaker 1: Is there any hope that we will ever get to

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Speaker 1: see real justice coming out of the House that could

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Speaker 1: possibly move somewhere when it comes to the Biden crime family.

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Speaker 1: Do you feel like we are getting closer by the

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Speaker 1: way that Comer and Jordan are doing this methodically. There

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Speaker 1: have been a lot of i say, Monday morning quarterbacking

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Speaker 1: and armchair quarterbacking from a lot of people on social

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Speaker 1: media are saying, we've screwed this up, We've gotten nowhere.

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Speaker 1: They promised to do something, they haven't done it yet.

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Speaker 1: Is that a fair assessment, because I think what they've

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Speaker 1: been doing is really making sure they do this right

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Speaker 1: so it sticks.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Listen, I think both Jim Jordan and James Comer

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Speaker 2: are doing an excellent job. I think they're approaching their

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Speaker 2: job very seriously. I think they're laying out the evidence

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Speaker 2: in a systematic matter. I think that's important. I think

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Speaker 2: laying out the evidence for the public matters enormously. I

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Speaker 2: believe the House should already have impeached alejandrom Orcas. I

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Speaker 2: believe the House should already have impeached Merrick Garland. And

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Speaker 2: you know, when it comes to impeachment Abiden. I think

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Speaker 2: they're getting very very close to having the evidence to

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Speaker 2: impeach Joe Biden as well. The question on all three

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Speaker 2: of those is will they have the votes in the House.

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Speaker 2: So the House Republicans have an exceptionally narrow majority, they

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Speaker 2: have a four vote majority, it's not clear that they

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Speaker 2: have the votes to impeach any of them. And so

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Speaker 2: that's a fundamental challenge that they face. The new Speaker,

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Speaker 2: Mike Johnson. I know Mike very well. He's a conservative.

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Speaker 2: I'm confident that Mike would be perfectly willing to impeach

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Speaker 2: these officials if he had the votes. But if there

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Speaker 2: are five Republicans who say no, there's no magic wand

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Speaker 2: that can change that. And so I think given that

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Speaker 2: very real dynamic that it is a tiny majority with

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Speaker 2: a number of wobbly votes, the best course of action

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Speaker 2: the House can do is keep developing the evidence and

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Speaker 2: making the case stronger and stronger and stronger, and developing

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Speaker 2: it in front of the American people, who ultimately are

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Speaker 2: going to be the arbiter. Because look, even if they

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Speaker 2: impeached all three of them, none would be removed by

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Speaker 2: the Senate. It takes two thirds of the Senate to

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Speaker 2: remove an individual and impeachment, and the chances that Senate

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Speaker 2: Democrats would vote to do so are zero point zero

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Speaker 2: zero zero percent.

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Speaker 1: Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,

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Speaker 1: you can go back and listen to the full podcast

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Speaker 1: from earlier this week. Now onto story number two. Senator,

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Speaker 1: you were talking obviously about what's happening with these two

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Speaker 1: different organizations within our government, but there's also something that

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Speaker 1: happened at Disney.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's right, and this is the third of our

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Speaker 2: woke triumvirate in terms of facing the consequences for their ideology,

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Speaker 2: which is that Disney recently filed its annual SEC report,

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Speaker 2: a report that every public company is required to file,

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Speaker 2: and here's what they were forced to publicly disclosed. Quote.

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Speaker 2: We face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer

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Speaker 2: tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel, and consumer products. And

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Speaker 2: it goes on to note, quote the success of our

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Speaker 2: businesses depends on our ability to consistently create compelling content. Quote. Generally,

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Speaker 2: our revenues and profitability are adversely impacted when our entertainment

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Speaker 2: offerings in products, as well as our methods to make

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Speaker 2: our offerings and products available to consumers do not achieve

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Speaker 2: sufficient consumer acceptance. Further, consumer's perceptions of our positions on

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Speaker 2: matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain

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Speaker 2: of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and

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Speaker 2: present risks to our reputation and brands. Now, that is

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Speaker 2: one of the most stunning corporate disclosures I've ever read,

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Speaker 2: because what that means is number one, Disney has lost

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Speaker 2: billions of dollars the phrase go woke, go broke. Disney

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Speaker 2: has sadly embodied that phrase. I am sure Walt Disney

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Speaker 2: is spinning in his grave at horrors at what has

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Speaker 2: happened to his namesake. But the fact that they put

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Speaker 2: this in their sec disclosures means number one, the money

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Speaker 2: they're losing is so significant. Number two, their projections for

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Speaker 2: future money that they're going to lose are so significant

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Speaker 2: that their lawyers said, damn it, you have to acknowledge

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Speaker 2: this in the disclosure, or else you will be sued

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Speaker 2: for misleading investors. In other words, we must write these

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Speaker 2: words so that when investors sue us and say your

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Speaker 2: executives are putting your woke politics ahead of profitability ahead

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Speaker 2: of producing entertainment. The consumers want of actually producing family

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Speaker 2: friendly entertainment that kids are interested in, and parents want

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Speaker 2: their kids to see that your politics matters more to

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Speaker 2: you then making the business successful. They want to be

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Speaker 2: able to point to this disclosure and say no, no, sorry,

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Speaker 2: you invested, and we told you upfront we don't care

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Speaker 2: about making a buck. Our politics is all we care about.

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Speaker 2: And even if it if it flushes the corporate profits

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Speaker 2: out debt down the commode.

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Speaker 1: You know, We've had this debate at my house, three boys,

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Speaker 1: and we've talked about Disney, and I said to my wife,

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Speaker 1: we had a grand debate over it. I'm not giving

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Speaker 1: my money to Disney. I'm not going to Disney. I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to take them to Disney because I believe

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Speaker 1: them when they tell me what their agenda is. Uh

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Speaker 1: and now it's in their financial disclosures. This is their agenda.

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Speaker 1: And I say this over and over again when when

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Speaker 1: having this debate over things like Disney and Woke companies.

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Speaker 1: Believe them when they put it in writing, Believe them

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Speaker 1: when they when they publish it, Believe them when they

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Speaker 1: produce it. Believe then when they promote it. This is

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Speaker 1: Disney saying all along, Yes, this is exactly what we're

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Speaker 1: trying to do with your kids' minds. Yes, we are

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Speaker 1: trying to use what used to be just innocent entertainment

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Speaker 1: that you could trust your kid in front of Disney

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Speaker 1: Channel or Disney movies. You no longer should have that

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Speaker 1: trust with them, and they put it in writing.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's right. But look, there's reason to draw optimism

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Speaker 2: from this third example, which is that that that for

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Speaker 2: many woke corporations, I think they they are feeling the

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Speaker 2: heat and they're trying to change direction. You look at CEO,

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Speaker 2: the CEO of Disney, Bob Iger. They brought him back

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Speaker 2: because Disney was in such a world of hurt. They

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Speaker 2: had screwed it up so badly that Bob Ayer came

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Speaker 2: back and he is seeking, in his own words to

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Speaker 2: quote quiet things down after putting politics front and center. Now,

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Speaker 2: IIGRE presumably signed off on this corporate disclosure, and that

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Speaker 2: may be a consequence of trying to pivot Disney back. Now.

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Speaker 2: They're not doing a great job of it because the

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Speaker 2: problem is that they have built a culture where their

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Speaker 2: executives are invested in in this woke ideology. And this

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Speaker 2: is something I discussed at great length in the book

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Speaker 2: on Woke. I talk about Disney at great length. I

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Speaker 2: talk about bud Light, I talk about Target, but I

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Speaker 2: talk about how all three of them, Disney, bud Light,

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Speaker 2: and Target lost billions and billions of dollars. And number one,

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Speaker 2: it's had an impact on all three but number two,

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Speaker 2: And this is where you should be encouraged. It is,

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Speaker 2: I hope and believe, a powerful deterrent for other CEO

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Speaker 2: and other corporations that are sitting there saying I don't

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Speaker 2: want to be bud Light, I don't want to be Target,

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Speaker 2: I don't want to be Disney. And now Disney, according

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Speaker 2: to its own corporate disclosure, Disney is saying I don't

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Speaker 2: want to be Disney. That may be promising an optimistic

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Speaker 2: for the future.

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Speaker 1: Finally, Centa, I wanted to There was a story this

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Speaker 1: week it and it kind of made me laugh, and

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Speaker 1: it sums up I think, are the Bidenomics economy that

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Speaker 1: we're in right now. There is a sixteen dollar fast

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Speaker 1: food meal. Now that may not shock some people because

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Speaker 1: you think, all right, at the higher end, maybe that's

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Speaker 1: something that is palatable, but it's a sixteen dollars McDonald's

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Speaker 1: meal that may explain voter anger more than any other

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Speaker 1: poll at Joe Biden. Like, if this isn't just a

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Speaker 1: full circle of where we are now that McDonald's has

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Speaker 1: a six a meal that costs sixteen dollars and ten

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Speaker 1: cents to be precise, that it's gone viral as a

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Speaker 1: man posts the receipt on social media and I and

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Speaker 1: I laughed when I saw this because it's like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: welcome to Bidenomics.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting. The language you used was word for

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Speaker 2: word the headline from, of all places, the Washington Post.

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Speaker 2: So the Washington Post headline was, quote the viral sixteen

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Speaker 2: dollar McDonald's meal that may explain voter anger at Biden.

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Speaker 2: So this is the Washington Post saying, you want to

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Speaker 2: know why voters are pissed at Joe Biden. Here's why.

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Speaker 2: And it goes on to describe that on December twentieth,

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, a fellow by the name of Toefer

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Speaker 2: Olive went to McDonald's in the town of Post Falls, Idaho,

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Speaker 2: and he ordered a limited edition smoky double quarter pounder

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Speaker 2: BLT with fries and a sprite, and the cost of

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Speaker 2: the meal was sixteen dollars and ten cents, and he

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Speaker 2: posted that the receipt on TikTok, and the receipt ended

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Speaker 2: up getting millions of views, initially a couple one hundred thousand,

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Speaker 2: but then when it was reposted and ended up getting

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Speaker 2: over two million views. And it goes right to the heart.

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Speaker 2: I mean, look, I've been going to McDonald's for as

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Speaker 2: long as I can remember, and you used to be

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Speaker 2: able to get a burger and fries and a coke

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Speaker 2: for five six bucks. You know when prices got more expensive,

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Speaker 2: maybe it was seven or eight dollars, but sixteen dollars.

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Speaker 2: There's a reason voters are pissed. And this goes right

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Speaker 2: to the heart of it. Than when you have Joe

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Speaker 2: Biden and Kamala Harrison, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi spending

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Speaker 2: trillions and trillions of dollars that we don't have, barring

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Speaker 2: trillions and trillions of dollars and running the printing presses

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Speaker 2: days and nights, we see inflation taking off and the

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Speaker 2: result is it's sixteen bucks to go to McDonald's as before.

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Speaker 1: If you want to hear the rest of this conversation

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Speaker 1: on this topic, you can go back and dow the

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Speaker 1: podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.

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Speaker 1: get back to the big story number three of the

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Speaker 1: week you may have missed. Finally, let's let's talk about

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Speaker 1: something that was really fun. I think and I googled this,

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Speaker 1: but I got inconclusive data here, Senator, I think that

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Speaker 1: you had your silver screen debut with a new movie

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Speaker 1: that has come out, Ladyballers. It is a Daily Wire movie, Ladyballers,

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Speaker 1: and it's making everybody freak out, which makes even more

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Speaker 1: fun in the media. And they're saying you're now starring

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Speaker 1: in a trainer film, which really made me laugh when

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Speaker 1: I saw that headline, So talk about this debut of yours.

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Speaker 1: Congratulations movie star. I guess we can put that on

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Speaker 1: the resume, right. This was pretty cool?

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Speaker 2: Well, it was very cool. So last night I went

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Speaker 2: to the world premiere of the movie and it was

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Speaker 2: in Nashville. The name of the movie is Lady Ballers

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Speaker 2: and it was put out by the Daily Wire. And

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Speaker 2: it's a comedy. It's a really funny comedy. It reads

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Speaker 2: it's an awful lot like Dodgeball. It's kind of the

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Speaker 2: same sort of slapstick. But the script is really well written.

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Speaker 2: It's got a terrific cast. And the premise is that

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Speaker 2: you have five guys who won the Tennessee State high

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Speaker 2: school basketball championship and twenty years later, they're all kind

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Speaker 2: of down on their luck and they decide they're going

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Speaker 2: to compete as women's basketball players and dominate women's basketball.

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Speaker 2: And because of today's woke ideology, if they say they're women, uh,

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Speaker 2: they get praised as as as beautiful and brave and

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Speaker 2: and it I got to tell you, the script is

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Speaker 2: it's just really damn funny. So I went. It was

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Speaker 2: in a big theater in Nashville. The theater was packed,

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Speaker 2: everyone was cracking up, laughing. Uh, there are a whole

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Speaker 2: bunch of cameos in the movie. Now I have a

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Speaker 2: tiny cameo. So so I'm in the movie. I have

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Speaker 2: two lines. But but it was fun. I flew to

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Speaker 2: Nashville while they were filming.

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Speaker 1: Hold On, hold on, how many takes it take you

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Speaker 1: to get it right? That's that's the real question, if

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Speaker 1: you've gone pro here in the movie world.

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Speaker 2: Well, uh, they probably had me do about twenty takes

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Speaker 2: of it. Now I don't know that. I don't know

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Speaker 2: that I screwed it up nineteen times. But but they

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Speaker 2: kept telling me, Okay, do it again, do it again,

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Speaker 2: do it again. So I did, did, did, did a

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Speaker 2: whole bunch of takes of it. And it was a

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Speaker 2: ton of fun. I flew in for one afternoon and

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Speaker 2: shot the scene and left it. But it was a

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Speaker 2: blast and it was really cool, and I will say

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Speaker 2: the movie. Look, this is something we've talked about. That's

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Speaker 2: something I talk about at a lot of length in

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Speaker 2: my new book on Woke. The chapter on entertainment. Entertainment

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Speaker 2: is enormously consequential, and I talk about in the book

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Speaker 2: on Woke, how how the the radical left has killed comedy.

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Speaker 2: Late night TV shows are unwatchable, and in fact, ironically

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Speaker 2: so Jimmy Kimmel. I blast in the book and I

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Speaker 2: talk about how, you know, instead of like actually having

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Speaker 2: real humor, we now just have angry leftists standing there

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Speaker 2: screaming I hate Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the devil. Ironically,

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Speaker 2: Jimmy Kimmel took that excerpt from my book and he

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Speaker 2: read it his monologue and it was it was actually

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Speaker 2: even funnier. Kimmel then followed it up by having a

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Speaker 2: drag queen read excerpts of my book to little kids,

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Speaker 2: which was as much as I said, it was unfunny.

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Speaker 2: That was actually kind of funny that he did that.

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Speaker 2: I gotta laugh at that. But look, entertainment is powerful.

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Speaker 2: Culture is powerful, and comedy is powerful. And what I

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Speaker 2: was happy about this movie is is that it's really funny.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it's it is. I mean, I'm as you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm a huge movie buff. I love movies. I love comedies.

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Speaker 2: I love I love, you know, laughing and cutting up

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Speaker 2: and having fun. And this the movie I would recommend

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Speaker 2: it to everyone. It's and I'm glad to see. Look,

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Speaker 2: the Daily Wire is investing a lot of money and

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Speaker 2: trying to compete against Hollywood producing good content. And that's

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Speaker 2: one of the critical tools we have to do if

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Speaker 2: we're going to take the institutions back.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so important, and you look at just it's

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Speaker 1: not just that when these come out that we support them.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's the point you're making is look,

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Speaker 1: go watch this movie and support it, because if we do,

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Speaker 1: then we get to make more of them and others

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Speaker 1: will be inspired when you see people that are trying

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Speaker 1: to fight back in spaces that are really hard, like Hollywood,

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Speaker 1: and they put something out that's on Netflix. That's something

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Speaker 1: that's that has made for our audience, and conservatives, make

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Speaker 1: sure you support it because if you don't, the left

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Speaker 1: will continue to beat the living crap out of us

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Speaker 1: in the entertainment industry and they do change hearts and minds.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there was a there were I mean, when

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Speaker 1: you ran for president, I'm sure you saw the data

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Speaker 1: likability and if Hollywood's behind you, and if you have

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Speaker 1: famous stars behind you, I mean, the Democratic National Convention

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Speaker 1: is not about the politicians. It's about the movie stars

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Speaker 1: and the mood and the music groups that show up

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Speaker 1: to entertain the people watching on TV, and they beat

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Speaker 1: us at that game. And that's why it's so important

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Speaker 1: to get behind movies like this.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think that's exactly right. The movie also has

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Speaker 2: a bunch of different cares in it. So Ben Shapiro

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Speaker 2: is in it, uh, Jeremy Boring Is is actually one

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Speaker 2: of the stars of it. Matt Walsh is in it,

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Speaker 2: Clay Travis is in it, Riley Gaines is in it,

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Speaker 2: Jordan Peterson is in it. So so there are lots

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Speaker 2: of of cameos that that are are are really fun

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Speaker 2: and and and well done and and like Matt Walsh

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Speaker 2: plays basically this like hippie dippy character, who's who's really

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Speaker 2: funny and and and Shapiro has just a quick little

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Speaker 2: snippet but it's hysterical what what Ben does in it,

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Speaker 2: and that it was one of the fun things. And

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Speaker 2: actually for for Verdict listeners, UH You're in My dear friend,

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Speaker 2: Michael Knowles the the the UH my original co host

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Speaker 2: on Verdict. Michael actually has a pretty sizable role in

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Speaker 2: the in the UH. In the movie, he plays a

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Speaker 2: he plays a TV actor and and he's got you

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Speaker 2: know in in in the movie, he's got like a

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Speaker 2: little mustache that he wears. And so I saw Michael,

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Speaker 2: I saw everyone at the premiere last night, and I

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Speaker 2: was giving Michael enormous grief, saying, you know, you really

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Speaker 2: need to keep that stash, Michael. I mean it really

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Speaker 2: does kind of it has sort of a B level

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Speaker 2: porn star actor look like the you know, I said, Michael,

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Speaker 2: you're rocking the Ron Jeremy look, and I think it

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Speaker 2: really it's worth continuing. Thankfully he had the good judgment

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Speaker 2: not to follow my advice on that front.

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Speaker 1: As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with center

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Speaker 1: Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you don't forget to down

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Speaker 1: with my podcast, and you can listen to my podcast

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Speaker 1: every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each

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Speaker 1: day when you.

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Speaker 2: Listen to Verdict.

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Speaker 1: Afterwards, I'd love to have you as a listener to

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Speaker 1: again the Ben Ferguson podcasts, and we will see you

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Speaker 1: back here on Monday morning.