Speaker 1: Welcome. It is a special fun edition of Verdict of
Speaker 1: Senator Ted Cruz. It is midnight after the State of
Speaker 1: the Union. Senator. What a speech it was and a
Speaker 1: rewrite of history from the President. Everything's great in the country.
Speaker 1: The union is strong, Inflation really doesn't matter. We've got
Speaker 1: a secure border, and we don't even have to talk
Speaker 1: about the balloon or China. It was an interesting speech. Well,
Speaker 1: interesting is one word for it. I just came from
Speaker 1: the House floor, went over to the Fox studio, sat
Speaker 1: down with Sean Hannity, talked with him about the speech
Speaker 1: at him. Now back in our studio recording this podcast
Speaker 1: for tomorrow morning, and I'll tell you my reactions to
Speaker 1: the speech. I thought it was divisive. I thought it
Speaker 1: was angry. I thought it was out of touch, and
Speaker 1: I thought it was profoundly dishonest. There were portions of
Speaker 1: it where he was mumbling it was very difficult to
Speaker 1: understand what he was saying. There were other portions where
Speaker 1: he just yelled randomly out of nowhere. At times he
Speaker 1: reminded me like a crotchety old man on his porch
Speaker 1: screaming at the kids get off my lawn. It was remarkable.
Speaker 1: Look more than two thirds of Americans believe we're on
Speaker 1: the wrong track. We just had an election in November
Speaker 1: where the American people elected a Republican majority in the House.
Speaker 1: There have been enormous problems with the Biden policy agenda.
Speaker 1: He could have given a speech trying to recognize that.
Speaker 1: Remember Bill Clinton, So after Congress flipped where he gave
Speaker 1: a speech and he said said the era big government
Speaker 1: is over, and he tried to pivot to the center.
Speaker 1: This speech was not that. This speech was doubling down
Speaker 1: on the same failed left wing agenda. And you know,
Speaker 1: I talked about the speech being dishonest. There were lots
Speaker 1: of portions of it that I thought were dishonest, but
Speaker 1: three really stood out. Number one when Biden had a
Speaker 1: portion of the speech talking about fentenol and he said,
Speaker 1: pass my plan to secure the border, and literally half
Speaker 1: the chamber broke out in laughter because it was so
Speaker 1: profoundly dishonest. Joe Biden and the Democrats made political decisions
Speaker 1: at the beginning of his presidency to open up the border.
Speaker 1: It was a conscious political decision, and as a consequence
Speaker 1: of that, we have had the highest rate of illegal
Speaker 1: immigration in the history of our country. Over five point
Speaker 1: four million people across the illegally. Under Joe Biden. Last year,
Speaker 1: we had over one hundred thousand deaths from overdoses, most
Speaker 1: of those from Chinese feentenol flooding across Biden's open border,
Speaker 1: and yet he accepted no responsibility for it. He instead
Speaker 1: claims he has a plan to secure the border, which
Speaker 1: is not in fact a plan to secure the border,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about on prior pods. It's a plan
Speaker 1: to actually expedite to speed up illegal aliens and coyotes
Speaker 1: crossing the border. And that I thought in the chamber
Speaker 1: was side splittingly funny, But to the American people, anyone
Speaker 1: paying attention, that was clearly not true. You got to
Speaker 1: go back to his first day in office, and let's
Speaker 1: just remind people of what Joe Biden did to create
Speaker 1: the onslaught of not just illegal immigrants coming across the border,
Speaker 1: but the fetenol coming across the border. He halted the
Speaker 1: border wall construction. Yep, he paused deportations. This is the
Speaker 1: first day in office. He suspended the remain in Mexico
Speaker 1: basically rule. He proposed amnesty for millions on that first
Speaker 1: day in office, and he ordered Ice to limit arrest
Speaker 1: and deportations. And then he comes out today and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna fight Fetnel. He's the biggest drug deal or
Speaker 1: in America right now because he's the one that's opened
Speaker 1: the border which is allowed the drugs to come in. Now,
Speaker 1: that's exactly right. And Joe Biden is also personally responsible
Speaker 1: for flooding billions of dollars to the Mexican drug cartels.
Speaker 1: They are making massive amounts of money. Roughly half their
Speaker 1: revenue comes from drug trafficking, Roughly half their revenue comes
Speaker 1: from human trafficking. And if you are a narco terrorists,
Speaker 1: Joe Biden becoming president is the best thing that ever
Speaker 1: happened to your bottom line because business is booming. And
Speaker 1: again he didn't accept any of that. He didn't even
Speaker 1: accept that there was a crisis. He just flat outlied.
Speaker 1: Another example when he talked late in his speech and
Speaker 1: it took nearly an hour for him to get to him.
Speaker 1: But when he finally got to China and he said,
Speaker 1: we're standing up for China, and America's stronger than ever
Speaker 1: before and our enemies are weaker, it was utterly absurd.
Speaker 1: I mean, we just finished last week the world watching
Speaker 1: as a Chinese spy balloon for over a week hovered
Speaker 1: over US Army Basis secure installation, committing espionage, and Biden
Speaker 1: weakly and impotently wrung his hands. He did nothing, and
Speaker 1: then finally, after it completed its mission, he shot it
Speaker 1: down once the mission was over, once our security had
Speaker 1: been compromised. And the result of that is she and
Speaker 1: every other enemy of the world took the measure of
Speaker 1: the commander in chief and they concluded he was weak.
Speaker 1: He was not willing to defend US airspace. I think
Speaker 1: that was actually one of the major objectives of the incursion.
Speaker 1: I think the Chinese knew the balloon would be spotted.
Speaker 1: It was visible to the naked eye. They knew it
Speaker 1: would be spotted. And yet they also knew Biden would
Speaker 1: be so weak he wouldn't do anything about it, or
Speaker 1: they suspected it, and he confirmed that. And so for
Speaker 1: him to say, we've shown the world we're tough on China,
Speaker 1: mind you, Joe Biden is also one of the largest
Speaker 1: customers for Chinese slave labor, buying electric vehicles and parts.
Speaker 1: In the last Congress, when I forced to vote on
Speaker 1: the floor of the Senate to ban the federal government
Speaker 1: from purchasing electric vehicles or batteries made with slave labor
Speaker 1: in Chinese concentration camps. Every Democrat but Joe Mention voted no.
Speaker 1: So that was another profoundly dishonest point. And I'll tell
Speaker 1: you a third one that struck me as incredibly dishonest
Speaker 1: is when he leaned forward and says Republicans want to
Speaker 1: sunset social Security and Medicare. Yeah, that was one of
Speaker 1: the most awkward moments of the entire State of Union.
Speaker 1: And I want to dive into that. But before we
Speaker 1: do that, let me remind our listeners about Patriot Mobile.
Speaker 1: Patriot Mobile is an incredible company that I want you
Speaker 1: to check out. It is the only conservative cell phone
Speaker 1: company in the US, the only Christian self and coming
Speaker 1: to the the US. And when you pay your bill every
Speaker 1: month to Patriot Mobile for a cell phone that you
Speaker 1: have right now, when you pay that bill, you're actually
Speaker 1: giving back to conservative causes and organizations that you support.
Speaker 1: We're talking about the First and the Second Amendment. We're
Speaker 1: talking about protecting onboard children, We're talking about helping with adoptions.
Speaker 1: Patriot Mobile actually is fighting for what you believe in.
Speaker 1: So when you make a phone call, when you send
Speaker 1: a text, you're standing up for what you believe in.
Speaker 1: Right now, we talk about big tech all the time.
Speaker 1: Now it's time for us to vote with our dollars
Speaker 1: and support comings that support what we believe in. Check
Speaker 1: out Patriot Mobile if you have a small business. They
Speaker 1: have an entire section of their business just for small businesses,
Speaker 1: and it's easy to switch. You get to keep your
Speaker 1: same cell phone number. Many times you can keep your
Speaker 1: same cell phone. Plus they have the same exact coverage
Speaker 1: you have right now. So go online to Patriot Mobile
Speaker 1: dot com, slash verdict, make the switch Patriot Mobile dot
Speaker 1: com slash verdict, or call them eight seven eight Patriot
Speaker 1: use the promo code verdict and you'll say big eight
Speaker 1: seven eight Patriots. Senator, you just mentioned one of the
Speaker 1: weirdest moments of the night from the President, and it
Speaker 1: was one of those moments where I think everybody's sitting
Speaker 1: there going are you kidding me? Go into detail of
Speaker 1: what it was like being on the four of the
Speaker 1: house when he said it. Well, so, I was sitting
Speaker 1: in the second row behind the cabinet, just to the
Speaker 1: left of the President from from his view, and he
Speaker 1: leans forward and when he says that Republicans want to
Speaker 1: sunset so Security and Medicare again, the result was spontaneous laughter.
Speaker 1: It was half the chamber literally laughing. Now, look at
Speaker 1: some level, this is not new. Every election cycle, Democrats
Speaker 1: demagogue on social Security and Medicare, and they always say
Speaker 1: Republicans want to throw Granny off the cliff and the
Speaker 1: hook for this, by the way, his predicate for what
Speaker 1: was a brazen line was one proposal that came out
Speaker 1: from one single senator. So in the last cycle, Rick
Speaker 1: Scott put out an eleven point plan for what he
Speaker 1: wanted to do with a Republican majority. Now, Rick Scott
Speaker 1: as a freshman senator, he's entitled to have his views.
Speaker 1: He's a good friend, he's a good man. Of those
Speaker 1: eleven points, I agreed with most of them. There were
Speaker 1: two in particular that I think we're a mistake and
Speaker 1: that I disagree with and I think most Republicans disagree with.
Speaker 1: And my guess is even Rick disagrees with it. On
Speaker 1: further contemplation. One of the eleven that he had, as
Speaker 1: he said, every American should pay some taxes. Now that
Speaker 1: might be right in the most abstract of senses. But
Speaker 1: right now, more than fifty percent of Americans don't pay
Speaker 1: income taxes, and so what that was quickly characterized as
Speaker 1: is saying that Rick Scott wants to raise taxes on
Speaker 1: fifty percent of Americans. I believe emphatically that Republicans should
Speaker 1: never ever, ever be in the business of raising axes.
Speaker 1: We should cut people's taxes. So I think that was
Speaker 1: a mistake for him to propose that. The second thing
Speaker 1: that he included in his list of elevities, he said
Speaker 1: every federal program should be sunset and listen. He's approaching
Speaker 1: this like the former governor of Florida, which he is,
Speaker 1: where there are lots of state programs where you have
Speaker 1: a sunset review, and the sunset review you examine the
Speaker 1: programs and you make them better. And I understand why
Speaker 1: from a state governor's perspective that can make sense. The
Speaker 1: reality is that social security and medicare are different, and
Speaker 1: they are I think they are vital bulwarks of our country.
Speaker 1: I think we've made solemn promises to seniors that we
Speaker 1: need to honor, and Republicans are committed, all of us,
Speaker 1: including Rick Scott, to saving, preserving strengthening, making sure that
Speaker 1: Social Security and Medicare are there for seniors going forward.
Speaker 1: All of this Biden knows. So he's literally taking one
Speaker 1: bullet point in one polo see paper put out by
Speaker 1: a single senator, a freshman senator, and he's claiming that
Speaker 1: is the position of Republicans in the entire Congress. It's absurd.
Speaker 1: But by the way, Biden did this all over the country.
Speaker 1: He campaigned using this bullet point to lie and deceive people.
Speaker 1: And then he went on and said, listen, we need
Speaker 1: to stand with seniors. And I'll tell you when he
Speaker 1: said that, I think he thought he was giving a
Speaker 1: Democrat talking point. I stood up and applauded, Yes, we
Speaker 1: need to stand with seniors. And I got to tell you,
Speaker 1: there is literally no group in America who has been
Speaker 1: hurt more in the past two years than seniors. You
Speaker 1: look at seniors facing skyrocketing inflation. You know, you're a senior,
Speaker 1: you're retired, you're you're on a fixed income. The cost
Speaker 1: of rant has gone up, the cost of food has
Speaker 1: gone up, the cost of electricity has gone up, the
Speaker 1: cost of everything has gone up. And at the same time,
Speaker 1: you senior retirement drop twenty to thirty percent. That is
Speaker 1: a double whammy where I do not believe it is
Speaker 1: hyperbole to say no president has inflicted more damage on
Speaker 1: seniors in two years than Joe Biden. So it is
Speaker 1: remarkable hutzpah for him to falsely claim Republicans want a
Speaker 1: sunset Social Security and Medica. Seniors don't have ten percent
Speaker 1: for the big guy for one case like he does,
Speaker 1: so it's a lot harder for them to recover when
Speaker 1: they lose money compared to Joe Biden. Look, you know,
Speaker 1: my mom right now is living on Social Security and
Speaker 1: she's retired. She's eighty eight years old, and she pays
Speaker 1: her expenses and you know, she doesn't get cable because
Speaker 1: cable's too expensive, and it's you know, it's tough. It's
Speaker 1: tough being a senior citizen. As their son. I help
Speaker 1: support her as as you know, a good son. If
Speaker 1: you're able to do that, you ought to do that.
Speaker 1: But but it is tough being a senior, and particularly
Speaker 1: when you have a budget. I mean, she is matial,
Speaker 1: you listen or budget because she wants to make ends
Speaker 1: meet and she has limited means to do it. And
Speaker 1: when the price of everything goes through the roof and
Speaker 1: your income doesn't match it. That really really hurts seniors.
Speaker 1: And this was a speech designed not to be honest,
Speaker 1: not to be candid, not to be direct about what's happening.
Speaker 1: But instead it was a in your face partisan speech.
Speaker 1: It was a screw you to everyone on the other side,
Speaker 1: everyone that voted on the other side. By the way,
Speaker 1: one particularly nasty thing was in the course of the
Speaker 1: speech when Biden recognized Paul Pelosi, and that was a
Speaker 1: gracious thing to do. You know, Paul was violently assaulted
Speaker 1: in his home. That was horrific. No one should face
Speaker 1: political violence, somebody hitting you in the head with a hammer.
Speaker 1: But then you look at the language that Biden used.
Speaker 1: He blamed that, he said on the Big Lie on
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. He wanted to blame that, take that act
Speaker 1: of physical violence and blame it on every Trump voter
Speaker 1: in America and everything connection to that. We know from
Speaker 1: the guy they caught a look, he was a hippie
Speaker 1: nudist in northern California. And the guy's a nut, he's
Speaker 1: a lunatic. But Biden couldn't resist using it as a
Speaker 1: political knife to try to attack and not just attack listen.
Speaker 1: If he wants to attack Republicans, that's fine. But when
Speaker 1: he was doing that, he wasn't attacking Republicans. He was
Speaker 1: attacking the voters. He was going after the people, and
Speaker 1: he was trying to use that to attack all of
Speaker 1: the voters who disagree with him. And that's just a
Speaker 1: strange strategy for a state of the Union to tell
Speaker 1: half the country go jump in a lake. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it was certainly a moment for him that he wanted
Speaker 1: to make there. He also said something else that was weird, trying,
Speaker 1: I think, to relate to the American pe and a
Speaker 1: lot of people have called this out as basically another
Speaker 1: big lie where he gets away with it. He said
Speaker 1: this about his wife, implying that she teaches full time.
Speaker 1: We made the best educated, best paid. We became the
Speaker 1: best educated, best paid nation in the world. The rest
Speaker 1: of worlds caught up. It's caught up, Jill, my wife
Speaker 1: who teaches full time. As an expression, hope I get
Speaker 1: it right, kid, Any nation out educates us is going
Speaker 1: to outcompete us. Any nasition out educations gonna outcompete us. Now,
Speaker 1: that may be a fair point, right that any any
Speaker 1: nation that outeducates US is going to outpace us. But
Speaker 1: the internet exploded, Senator, you were obviously in the floor
Speaker 1: of the house. Then they're going, wait, when did she
Speaker 1: become a full time teacher? How can you just make
Speaker 1: up things like this when she's the first lady. You
Speaker 1: can see her schedule. It's clear the schedule that she
Speaker 1: keeps she's not a full time teacher. And there were
Speaker 1: even teachers that were outraged by this idea that you
Speaker 1: can just make stuff up as you Well, look, I'm
Speaker 1: going to leave Jill Biden out of it, but I
Speaker 1: will say I agree with the principle that any nation
Speaker 1: that outeducates us will that will outcompete us. And you
Speaker 1: want to talk about the failures of the Biden administration,
Speaker 1: Joe Biden, the Democrats are responsible for shutting schools down
Speaker 1: all over this country in many places for more than
Speaker 1: a year, and the result has hurt kids more than
Speaker 1: anything in our lifetimes, and in particular, it has hurt
Speaker 1: low income kids, African American kids, Hispanic kids. We've seen
Speaker 1: the greatest learning losses ever recorded. And this was done
Speaker 1: at the behest of the teacher union bosses who had
Speaker 1: schools shut down for tens of millions of kids for
Speaker 1: more than a year, schools were shut down. And I'll
Speaker 1: point out this is also an administration that viciously passionately
Speaker 1: opposes school choice, opposes charter schools, does everything they can
Speaker 1: to leave kids trapped in failing schools. So when he
Speaker 1: stands up and talks about education, I agree, and his
Speaker 1: policies are hurting education. There's another portion where he was
Speaker 1: talking about the tax code and he said he said
Speaker 1: the tax code is fundamentally unfair, and I began applauding heartily.
Speaker 1: I was one of the few from the Republican side
Speaker 1: applauding at that. But I think the tax code is terrible.
Speaker 1: It's why I think we should abolish the IRS and
Speaker 1: pass a simple flat tax. And he had all of
Speaker 1: this rhetoric demogoguing big business, big companies. Here's one of
Speaker 1: the interesting ironies. And all the Democrats are standing up,
Speaker 1: hooting and hollering and cheering. You know, all those big corporations,
Speaker 1: they are overwhelmingly supporting Democrats. You know, he was demogoguing
Speaker 1: big Pharma. Big Pharma is so much in bed with
Speaker 1: the Democrats that they snuggle and nibble on Joe Biden's
Speaker 1: ear at night. Yeah, and he knows it, but it
Speaker 1: was one of those moments where he probably winked a
Speaker 1: nod to them. Hey, guys, I'm gonna I'm gonna slap
Speaker 1: you around a little bit during the State of Union,
Speaker 1: but don't worry. I'm the guy that's gonna keep getting
Speaker 1: your paid through vaccine mandates and things like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make it illegal not to buy your product,
Speaker 1: and in fact, I'm gonna try to fire people who
Speaker 1: don't buy your product. And all right, we gotta take
Speaker 1: an aside because you and I have not done a
Speaker 1: podcast since the ridiculous Grammys. Yes, did you see the
Speaker 1: horrific Satan worshiping bizarre like idiots? To my knowledge, the
Speaker 1: first time there's been a full on Satan celebrating ritual
Speaker 1: on network TV. And not only that, but you actually
Speaker 1: had CBS tweeting out, we can't wait to worship. They've
Speaker 1: now taken that tweet down because the backlash as they
Speaker 1: were getting ready for a moment that clearly I knew
Speaker 1: was coming with a Satan worshiping, and then at the
Speaker 1: very end, it was amazing because it couldn't have been
Speaker 1: It couldn't have better illustrated the world that we live
Speaker 1: in right now, centator because it said brought to you
Speaker 1: by Fiser when they went to the break. So, Ben,
Speaker 1: you and I have been doing this too long together
Speaker 1: because you knew where I was going. That was the connection.
Speaker 1: So they have that they have a transgender biological male
Speaker 1: who's a transgender female gyrating half naked in a cage
Speaker 1: with male and female strippers outside the cage. That they
Speaker 1: have a man who identifies as non binary gyrating with
Speaker 1: with red devil. Devil horns on while demons pull him
Speaker 1: down with fire in the air as this full on
Speaker 1: Lucifer celebrating event. And by the way, you and I
Speaker 1: didn't watch the Grammys. I'm assuming you didn't. I, sir,
Speaker 1: I did not. I did not. Well disclosure, I did
Speaker 1: not watch that at at But you know what, our
Speaker 1: kids listen to the garbage that's being produced by these people,
Speaker 1: and these are the litterati, these are the entertainers. It
Speaker 1: was an illustration of how corrupt, how fundamentally evil. I
Speaker 1: tweeted out just watching this video, this is evil. But
Speaker 1: then to end with sponsored by Fiser. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I couldn't help, but tweeting what you know Fiser really
Speaker 1: is taking truth and advertising a little bit far on this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was so accurate of the of the culture at
Speaker 1: war that is happening right now in America. And they
Speaker 1: and I want to ask you a question, Ben so So,
Speaker 1: I was there in the chamber. I didn't watch the
Speaker 1: speech on TV. When Biden finished his rhetoric attacking big Pharma,
Speaker 1: did they break in and say this speech brought to
Speaker 1: you by Fiser it because they really should have, if
Speaker 1: they should have had the naked Devil guide dancing in
Speaker 1: front of Biden and then say brought to you by Fiser.
Speaker 1: And all the Democrats hooting and hollering, if they hate
Speaker 1: big business so much, ask yourself why it is almost
Speaker 1: every big business player support the Democrats, contribute to the Democrats.
Speaker 1: Why are almost all of their boards of directors consisting
Speaker 1: of Democrats? Why are almost all their CEOs Democrats? It
Speaker 1: is this speech tonight was all about smoking, mirrors and deception.
Speaker 1: We're gonna use rhetoric that say we believe in one
Speaker 1: thing while our policies and actions are the opposite. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The one thing about the Grammys, I gotta go back
Speaker 1: that for a moment, because you know they had this
Speaker 1: cameo from Fat Satan. It was a catastrophe in the ratings.
Speaker 1: This is the only good news. It was a just
Speaker 1: twelve point four million viewers watch the Grammys. So I
Speaker 1: do think that's a good a good point to point
Speaker 1: out here that the more extreme they go, the more
Speaker 1: America seems to be waking up to just how far
Speaker 1: gone we are and how extreme the left has become.
Speaker 1: And that may be the only good news that comes
Speaker 1: out of these moments here. But by the way, I
Speaker 1: will confess so I don't know if you have to
Speaker 1: see it, but you know James Cordon, you know, the
Speaker 1: late night comedy host. So he did a whole riff
Speaker 1: on the Grammys, and in particular, he had about three
Speaker 1: minutes of pounding the hell out of me because I tweeted,
Speaker 1: this is evil about that, and and it was so
Speaker 1: so I like, my team in the office saw it
Speaker 1: and I was like, Okay, of course, late night comedy
Speaker 1: is defending the like devil worship on mainstream TV. And
Speaker 1: then every single person on my staff was falling on
Speaker 1: the ground holding their ribs, laughing, say, this is the
Speaker 1: funniest damn thing I've ever heard, because it has me
Speaker 1: sitting on my couch, going okay, I must tweet on
Speaker 1: this and in it. And so I ended up, of course,
Speaker 1: embodying what they were mocking me for tweeting on it
Speaker 1: and saying, Okay, late night comedy is finally funny. But
Speaker 1: I've told all my staff all right, I'm pissed off
Speaker 1: that y'all think this is so damn funny. I don't
Speaker 1: understand why, but okay, I'll own it. That's hilarious. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know what, sometimes, like you said, you just got
Speaker 1: to own that moment. I want to go back to
Speaker 1: something you said earlier, and you said that tonight's speech
Speaker 1: was an extremely partisan, kind of bitter and angry speech,
Speaker 1: and we were also talking about just some of the
Speaker 1: kind of anger and the screaming. I want to play
Speaker 1: this was an eight second moment, and I think totally
Speaker 1: encompasses this speech and basically what it was. Name me
Speaker 1: a world later? Who changed places with shijingping? Name me one?
Speaker 1: Name me one? I mean, he was angry. Now. The
Speaker 1: reason why I played that is forget what he was saying.
Speaker 1: For a moment. I was watching this and about fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes in I literally said out loud, well, it's official,
Speaker 1: he is definitely running for reelection because it was a
Speaker 1: campaign speech that I watched tonight with a campaign theme
Speaker 1: that you kept noticing was coming up of let's finish
Speaker 1: what we started, let's get the job done. They were
Speaker 1: tests marketing the campaign theme of Joe Biden. This was this,
Speaker 1: I think the soft launch of officially his presidential campaign
Speaker 1: two point zero. Well, it could be. I'll say a
Speaker 1: couple of things. Number one, that little portion of named
Speaker 1: someone who would change places with Shi Jingping. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you we were all looking at each other and scratching
Speaker 1: our heads because he was yelling name one, name one,
Speaker 1: and he was like he was a deranged man yelling.
Speaker 1: He was yelling loud, and it's a weird point. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: Kim Jong Oon of Vladimir Putin, Nicholas Maduro, like every
Speaker 1: tinpot dictator in the world would love to be Shi Jungping,
Speaker 1: Like like, it's a weird I don't understand what his
Speaker 1: point was that that was. Actually, I don't know if
Speaker 1: he read it wrong or if it's a bizarrely inconceived
Speaker 1: If you're an oppressive dictator, name someone who would like
Speaker 1: to be the world's most oppressive dictator with one point
Speaker 1: three billion people and a massive economy and a military
Speaker 1: that is challenging in the greatest geopolitical threat to the
Speaker 1: United States of America for the next hundred years. It's like, Joe,
Speaker 1: there are lots of people who would like to be that,
Speaker 1: and you are hopelessly naive if you think. And by
Speaker 1: the way, Joe, you have said for years China is
Speaker 1: our friend. No, they're not our friend. So it was
Speaker 1: a that was one of the stranger moments because we
Speaker 1: were looking at each other saying, what is this point.
Speaker 1: We don't get this you men. You mentioned his obsession
Speaker 1: with China and saying that they are not somebody that
Speaker 1: we should have worried about. And let's just go back
Speaker 1: to two thousand and one. Listen to Joe Biden from
Speaker 1: two thousand and one to present obsessing over China. And
Speaker 1: before I play that for you, I want to talk
Speaker 1: to you about our friends in augusta Precious Medals. If
Speaker 1: you've been saving for a long time and you need
Speaker 1: to make sure you can protect your assets and your retirement,
Speaker 1: then you should talk to our friends in August of
Speaker 1: Precious Medals about how to protect your money with a
Speaker 1: gold Ira. I want to tell you about a company
Speaker 1: that not only do I trust, but I actually use them.
Speaker 1: They're different because they tell you if a gold ira
Speaker 1: isn't your answer, they give you the facts. There is
Speaker 1: not pressure. August of Precious Medals is all about protecting
Speaker 1: iras and four o one ks in this crazy economy
Speaker 1: that we're dealing with right now. And it's incredibly important
Speaker 1: for you if you're closed to retirement too, because there's
Speaker 1: no time to make up losses. If you've saved one
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars or more, then you should take a
Speaker 1: look at their free guide and sign up for their
Speaker 1: web conference. I've done the web conference and it was incredible.
Speaker 1: It is filled with economic insight about gold iras for
Speaker 1: a one k and how you can have peace of
Speaker 1: mind with retirement. Call August of Precious Medals eight seven
Speaker 1: seven four gold Ira. That's a seven seven the number
Speaker 1: four gold ira. Or visit a Gust of Precious Metals
Speaker 1: with ans dot com. Say I sent you and they'll
Speaker 1: pay your fees for up to ten years. That's a
Speaker 1: Gust of Precious Medals at eight seven seven four gold
Speaker 1: Ira centator. Here is Biden who spent literally decades. This
Speaker 1: goes back to two thousand and one knowing and bowing
Speaker 1: to China. In fact, he even said he hoped for
Speaker 1: their expansion, saying it was good for America. China is
Speaker 1: not our enemy, I believe then, and I'm even more
Speaker 1: convinced now that a rising China is an incredibly positive
Speaker 1: vote for not only China, but the United States and
Speaker 1: the USK. It is in our self interest that China
Speaker 1: continue to prosper. China is a great nation, and we
Speaker 1: should hope for the continued expansion. We want to see
Speaker 1: China arising. China can be a significant asset for the
Speaker 1: region of the world. China is going to eat our lunch.
Speaker 1: Come on, man, they're not bad folks. Folks, but guess
Speaker 1: what they're not. They're not our competition for us. China
Speaker 1: is not our problems. We hope some of the problems.
Speaker 1: China is not a problem China. And so what are
Speaker 1: we What are we worried about about China? You think
Speaker 1: in retrospect that you were naive about China? Do you
Speaker 1: think in retrospect you were naive about China? May have
Speaker 1: been the best question ever asked by seeing And of
Speaker 1: course he says no, Look, he wasn't naive that those
Speaker 1: quotes read like someone who's been paid millions of dollars
Speaker 1: from the Chinese Communist government. And we know that Hunter
Speaker 1: Biden was paid millions of dollars. We know that the
Speaker 1: Penn Biden Center was paid millions of dollars. We know
Speaker 1: that Joe Biden has made a career of crawling in
Speaker 1: bed with the Chinese Communist government. And so it's not
Speaker 1: naive that naive doesn't begin to capture it. It's more
Speaker 1: fundamentally corrupt than that it is. The Democrat Party today
Speaker 1: is structurally pro China. We've talked about this before. All
Speaker 1: of their major stakeholders are pro China. Big business, big tech,
Speaker 1: big Hollywood, big universities, all of them are in bed
Speaker 1: with China. And so the Democrat Party is in bed
Speaker 1: with China too, all right, I make I want to
Speaker 1: make two final points before we wrap up. Number one.
Speaker 1: We talked about this on the last pod. Every Senator
Speaker 1: is entitled to bring one guest to the State of
Speaker 1: the Union. As I mentioned in Monday's pod, I brought
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Levi Beard as my guest. Now, Lieutenant Beard has
Speaker 1: been in the Navy for ten years, great guys from
Speaker 1: Fort Worth. Originally I had dinner with him, invited him
Speaker 1: to the Senate dining room and he had dinner with
Speaker 1: the other other senators and me and Levi. The Biden
Speaker 1: administration is trying to fire him because he's declined to
Speaker 1: take the COVID vaccine, and Levi brought litigation to stop that.
Speaker 1: In a federal court issued an injunction preventing the Biden
Speaker 1: administration from firing him. But they're not done. The Biden
Speaker 1: Department of Defense is litigating against Levi, trying to collect
Speaker 1: about two hundred thousand dollars from him. They're trying to
Speaker 1: collect about seventy five thousand dollars of a bonus they
Speaker 1: paid for him because he had accepted and was in
Speaker 1: training to be a division head in the Navy. And
Speaker 1: then they're also trying to force him to repay the
Speaker 1: cost of postgraduate school at the Naval War College. The
Speaker 1: reason they're going after him for both of those is
Speaker 1: the Navy will not let him be a division head.
Speaker 1: Why because he hasn't gotten the COVID vaccine. So even
Speaker 1: though Congress has repealed the mandate, the Biden Department of
Speaker 1: Defense doesn't care. They are still enforcing it and severely
Speaker 1: restricting servicemen and women that make the decision. In Levi's case,
Speaker 1: he put in an application for a sincere religious objection.
Speaker 1: They denied him. They don't care. And you've literally got
Speaker 1: a ten year sailor who they're trying in litigation to
Speaker 1: get two hundred thousand dollars out of him, to extort
Speaker 1: it from him. And I will say number one. At
Speaker 1: the dinner in the Senate dining room, I introduced him
Speaker 1: to a number of my fellow colleagues. Now some of
Speaker 1: them have been strong voices against the vaccine mandate in
Speaker 1: the military, but other of them, others of them. I
Speaker 1: introduced him to several Democrats. I introduced him to some
Speaker 1: of the Republicans who have not been willing to stand
Speaker 1: against the military vaccine mandate, and it was striking the reactions.
Speaker 1: Look I enjoyed introducing him to people who agree with us,
Speaker 1: but I have to admit I enjoyed even more introducing
Speaker 1: him to senators who are on the other side, because
Speaker 1: I would introduce him, say it was in the Navy,
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, thank you for serving. It's great,
Speaker 1: And I'd tell that story, and you would see it
Speaker 1: would vary. Some of them, the blood would shoot out
Speaker 1: of their face and they'd like run away. Others would
Speaker 1: look at him and listen, and they'd hear his story.
Speaker 1: And I'm hoping that at least a couple of them
Speaker 1: in that room having met him, having met a real
Speaker 1: human being. You know, Levi and I were talking about
Speaker 1: how people think in terms of memories, We think in
Speaker 1: terms of stories, the way our mind works. They can
Speaker 1: now put a face to the name, a face to
Speaker 1: the problem. I hope it makes a difference. That it
Speaker 1: was striking to me. In the entire course of the speech,
Speaker 1: Biden did not say a word about the thousands or
Speaker 1: even tens of thousands of soldiers and sailors and airmen
Speaker 1: and marines and coast guardsmen that he fired because of
Speaker 1: his abusive vaccine mandate, And so I hope others focus
Speaker 1: on Levi's story and the story of the other servicemen
Speaker 1: and women that had been screwed by this administration. It
Speaker 1: was striking to me he wouldn't say a word about it.
Speaker 1: It is shocking that he left that and many other
Speaker 1: issues just completely disappeared from him, including school choice, COVID
Speaker 1: learning losses, critical race SERI. The issue of Israel did
Speaker 1: not come up at tonight. All anti Semitism did not
Speaker 1: come up at all tonight. Asian Americans and anti Asian
Speaker 1: hate crimes, which which was something that he used to
Speaker 1: talk about, didn't come up. And certainly nothing came up
Speaker 1: tonight about his mishandling of classified documents. He did not
Speaker 1: mention ran tonight. He did not know what also didn't happen.
Speaker 1: Not either, you know what also didn't happen. Kevin McCarthy
Speaker 1: didn't ostentatiously rip the speech into pieces behind him, because
Speaker 1: Kevin McCarthy actually demonstrated some class, unlike Nancy Pelosi, who
Speaker 1: demonstrated just complete contempt not just for Donald Trump but
Speaker 1: for the presidency. And I thought that was a sharp contrast.
Speaker 1: Now I got to point out there is one really
Speaker 1: important issue that I know that our loyal listeners will remember,
Speaker 1: and it's a really significant issue, which is in Monday's pod,
Speaker 1: you and I'm both made predictions about how long the
Speaker 1: State of the Union address would be, and in Monday's pod,
Speaker 1: I predicted that it would be one minute and at
Speaker 1: one hour and twenty one minutes and you came in
Speaker 1: I think with like, was it forty two minutes? It
Speaker 1: was forty something? What was it, Diz? Can we go back?
Speaker 1: I don't remember what I said, but it was under
Speaker 1: you like not enough that I was Price is writing you.
Speaker 1: I want to be clear about that. So I was
Speaker 1: an hour and twenty one minutes and you were down
Speaker 1: in the forties. Well, the official count, according to c SPAN,
Speaker 1: was one hour, twelve minutes and forty one seconds, which
Speaker 1: means that I was eight minutes off you were eight
Speaker 1: minutes over. That means you're automatically it is quite right.
Speaker 1: No, no no, no, no no, this is not Prices right. This
Speaker 1: is who was closest. And you know, I'm just gonna say,
Speaker 1: and and it was. It was eleven minutes longer than
Speaker 1: last year's speech. And you know when you predicted that
Speaker 1: it would be in the forty minute range. I have
Speaker 1: to admit I laughed on Monday. And I think I
Speaker 1: have sat on the house floor, I believe for ten
Speaker 1: of these now, and and so I think my reaction
Speaker 1: is just not my first rodeo. But I am wondering
Speaker 1: what we wagered, what do I win? I guess we
Speaker 1: could go with it, will I don't know. I'll have
Speaker 1: to think about this. I haven't decided yet, but I
Speaker 1: will make sure it's a good one, and I'll come
Speaker 1: back to you on that, because I know if I
Speaker 1: let you decide, it's gonna hurt. All right, very good.
Speaker 1: I'll just take the the the vindication of having predicted
Speaker 1: correctly you on I lost. I'll take my lashing Senator.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that. Thank you for reminding the audience
Speaker 1: that one. I have one last bonus question thirty seconds
Speaker 1: or last, because this is just something everybody I've always
Speaker 1: wanted to know when I think others have, how do
Speaker 1: you guys decide where the hell you're going to sea
Speaker 1: get seated at the say of the Union? How does
Speaker 1: that work? What's the protocol there? So it's a great question.
Speaker 1: It's actually it's utterly random. So when you come in,
Speaker 1: we gather in the Senate chamber. Oh, like I guess
Speaker 1: the speech begins at nine. I think we gather about
Speaker 1: eight twenty, and about eight thirty we walk over. So
Speaker 1: we all all the senators walk in a line across
Speaker 1: the Capitol. The Senate chambers on one side of the Capitol,
Speaker 1: the House chambers on the other. So we all walk
Speaker 1: in a line. We walk kind of in between tons
Speaker 1: of reporters and press that are snapping pictures. So it's
Speaker 1: formal ish. I mean, it's not like a parade, but
Speaker 1: it's it's typically we're walking two by two. Often, for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, often you try to talk with someone from
Speaker 1: the opposing party. It's not always the case, but like
Speaker 1: walking over to this one, I was talking to Dick
Speaker 1: Blumenthal from Connecticutney and I have served on committees together,
Speaker 1: and we actually get along pretty well, even though we
Speaker 1: disagree on a lot of issues. But we were talking
Speaker 1: and walking along and then when you walk in. So
Speaker 1: one of the things the House does is it reserves
Speaker 1: pretty much all of the seats in the front. So
Speaker 1: the front front rows are the Cabinet, and then also
Speaker 1: on the left side is the Supreme Court and the
Speaker 1: Joint Chiefs. Behind the Cabinet, the very next seats they
Speaker 1: reserve for the Senate. I have to admit I'm actually
Speaker 1: a little amazed at the House, given the tensions between
Speaker 1: the House and the Senate. I'm not sure why they're
Speaker 1: they're so nice to give us the best seats of
Speaker 1: the House, but they always do, and so the front
Speaker 1: seats are reserved for senators, and they're I guess a
Speaker 1: hundred of them that have little signs that say reserve
Speaker 1: for a senator. But when you come in, it's literally
Speaker 1: first first served. So you just walk in and they've
Speaker 1: got a couple of assistants that are pointing you other
Speaker 1: couple of seats there, a couple of seats there, and
Speaker 1: you just go in randomly. The only senators that have
Speaker 1: assigned seats are the leaders in both parties, So Mitch McConnell,
Speaker 1: Chuck Schumer, sort of the top five leadership in both
Speaker 1: parties have the front center rows on both sides, but
Speaker 1: beyond that, you sit wherever you want in the reserve
Speaker 1: seats for senators. And so I was, I guess two
Speaker 1: rows behind the cabinet just because that was the seat
Speaker 1: was that was open, and so that's where I sat. There.
Speaker 1: You go, see, we learned something new every night, senator.
Speaker 1: Always a pleasure. Don't forget everybody, right, all right, hold
Speaker 1: hold on, I gotta tell a story. Yeah, State of
Speaker 1: the Union. I think it's twenty fourteen. So second one,
Speaker 1: I've been to Obama State of the Union and I'm
Speaker 1: sitting next to Lindsey Graham, and Louie Gomert in the
Speaker 1: house comes out to me, and Louie's a dear friend,
Speaker 1: and Louie's talking to me and he's talking to me,
Speaker 1: and he and I are both sitting down, and Louie's
Speaker 1: standing there in the aisle. He hadn't gotten a seat,
Speaker 1: but he's talking. He's talking, he's talking, and they're getting
Speaker 1: ready to start, and Louie looks around and he's like, oh, crap,
Speaker 1: I don't have a seat. Where did I go sit?
Speaker 1: And Lindsay says, Louie, Louie, there's a seat right up there,
Speaker 1: next to the podium. Go sit up there. He said,
Speaker 1: you will be famous. And I laughed. I said, Louie,
Speaker 1: you gotta do it. Go sit up there. You will
Speaker 1: be immortal. You'll be incarcerated, but you will be immortal.
Speaker 1: Ha ha. And then turn it there right now and then.
Speaker 1: So this was twenty fourteen, because it was right after
Speaker 1: Nelson Mandela's funeral in December of twenty thirteen. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember this was a while ago,
Speaker 1: but a Mandela's funeral, there was a bizarre instance of
Speaker 1: this guy that stood up there and pretended to be
Speaker 1: a deaf interpreter. Yeah, and he was just he just
Speaker 1: figured his way in there, and he wasn't doing sign language.
Speaker 1: He was just making random gesture years and god on
Speaker 1: global television pretending to be a deaf interpreter. So I
Speaker 1: told Louie, I said, Louie, go up there and when
Speaker 1: Obama begins his speech, just start faking sign language. It
Speaker 1: will be you will go down in the history books.
Speaker 1: And God love, God love Louis. He had the sense
Speaker 1: not to take my advice, not to take Lindsay's advice,
Speaker 1: and doesn't have a and doesn't have a mugshot because
Speaker 1: of the evening. Everybody one, that's awesome, Senator. It's always
Speaker 1: a pleasure. As we said, everybody, it's late at night,
Speaker 1: right after the say the Union. We will see you
Speaker 1: guys back here on Friday morning. Don't forget subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast so you get all three of them every week.
Speaker 1: They are free. Please write us at five star reviews
Speaker 1: so we can reach more people in the country. It
Speaker 1: helps with ratings on the chart, so more people can
Speaker 1: find this podcast. And we'll see you back here on Friday.